Through an elaborate charade of humiliating behavior, Petruchio humbles her and by the end of the play, she will instruct other women on the nature of being a good and dutiful wife. .
In direct contrast to Shrew, is Twelfth .
Night, whose main female protagonist is by far the strongest character in the play. The main character Viola, has been stranded in a foreign land and adopts the identity of her brother so that she might live independently without a husband or guardian. She serves as a courtier to a young, lovesick nobleman named Orsino. Throughout the play she plays as a go-between for him to the woman he loves. In the course of her service, she falls in love with him. Only at the end, does she renounce her male identity and declares her love for him. .
Both plays portray female characters unwilling to accept the female role of passivity. Katherine rebels against this stereotype by becoming a "shrew", a violently tempered and belligerent woman. Viola disguises herself as a man for most of the play in order to preserve her state of free will. Katherine endures reprimands, chiding, and humiliation in the course of her chosen rebellion. Viola enjoys life and position as a man, and does not reveal who she is until the last scene of the play. .
Curiously enough, both women voluntarily accept the roles that society would impose on them again at the close of the plays. It is important to note though, that they freely resume these roles, and that they do so out of their own sense of self. For each woman, it is a personal choice based on their desires. In the case of Katherine, she realizes that propriety is as much a signature of self-respect as respect for others, and she has a husband whom she need prove nothing to because he already respects her. .
In the case of Viola, she is in love with the young Orsino. Having found the man she would be willing to wed, the pretense of her male identity is no longer necessary, as she desires to be his wife.
