Petruchio: The Man Who Came to Padua for Money

Petruchio arrives in Padua looking for a rich wife. He says so directly in Act 1 Scene 2: his father has died and he has come for wealth, not love. When Hortensio describes Katharina's temper as a reason not to pursue her, Petruchio hears her father's money as a reason to pursue her anyway. He is not romantic. He is practical.

His strategy for taming Katharina is methodical and explicitly theatrical. He announces in Act 4 Scene 1 that he will keep her from food and sleep and overwhelm her with false kindness, calling everything she asks for defective (the meat overdone, the bed badly made), all done in her name and for her own good. He is describing exactly what he is doing as he does it, as if the strategy is the performance.

Whether the ending represents genuine mutual understanding or just effective coercion has been argued over for four centuries. He seems delighted by her in a way that suggests real admiration. She seems to have found in their relationship something more honest than anything Bianca's suitors are offering. The play gives you the evidence and does not close the case.