Does Kate deserve Petruchio does Petruchio deserve Kate
... I don’t think this is the case with Kate and Petruchio as you see later in the essay. The boastful, selfish, mercurial Petruchio is one of the most difficult characters in The Taming of the Shrew to understand. His behaviour is extremely difficult to work out, and I found understanding the play as a whole changed dramatically when I tried to interpret Petruchio actions. ... But on the other hand, Petruchio is actually capable of loving Kate and able to tame her only as a means to realise a happy marriage. ... Kate is widely reputed throughout Padua to be a shrew; Katherine is foul-tempered and sharp-tongued at the start of the play. ... If we now look at Kate and petruchio together and how they get along in this love-hate relationship. ... 1 line 185 to 186 “you lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate”. You can see that from the moment petruchio meets Kate he insults her to her face but then straight afterwards he complements Kate for being “the prettiest Kate in Christendom” act II. ... 1 lines 207–214 this is where there is petruchio and Kate exchange comments during their first meeting. Their conversation is an extraordinary display of verbal wit, with Petruchio making use of lurid sexual puns in order to undermine Kate. I would compare Kate to a dangerous wild animal, but in this case, Petruchio calls her a wasp. ... Basically in saying this, Petruchio throws down a challenge to Katherine, acknowledging his intent to tame her. Katherine, disgusted, says that Petruchio is too much of a fool even to know where a wasp’s sting is.