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Mary Wollstonecraft was in the First Wave of feminism that started way back in the Romantic Era. She wasn't a radical, burn-your-bra kind of woman. She was a woman that wanted equality with men in relationships. I will be using her brand of criticism from her essay A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
Society has set forth a constructed set of rules that dictates this is masculine, that is feminine, and then people act according to those dictates. In the world of The Taming of the Shrew (Taming), a good woman was to be meek, quiet, soft, and beautiful. They were not to be opinionated, strong-willed, or vocal. That was the man's realm. Bianca pretends to be the perfect woman, and in doing so, gains the admiration of society. Kate does not conform to the feminine, and is othered, and labeled as a Shrew.
"Women, intoxicated by the adoration which men, under the influence of their sense, pay them, do not seek to obtain a durable interest in their hearts" (Wollstonecraft 171).
Bianca is one of those women who wants to be admired by the men in her life. She wants to impress her father and her suitors. Her goal is to be the woman that society dictates, and to be pegged as that ideal. She is obedient to her father's wishes: "Sir, to your pleasure humbly I subscribe" (1.1.81). She has hardly any lines, because she is quiet like good women were supposed to be. She is very beautiful, as is evidenced by her many suitors. In the beginning of Act 2, she also affects to being long-suffering to her older sister while being tormented. However, these fine qualities of hers are called into question as the play moves along. Is she really kind? At Kate's wedding, she makes mean jokes about Kate "being mad herself, she's madly mated" (3.2.244). She's glad to see her sister matched and gone. She agrees to be married without her father's true consent. And, at the end, she refuses to be obedient to her husband. Though Bianca puts on an air of the feminine perfection, she does not actually posses these prized qualities.
Katharine is not meek, or quiet, or tame, but she is true to herself. That is a rare quality to find in a world of women who are determined to please. Kate is a firebrand, and she will say what she thinks, and she will make her mind known. She is not adored like her younger sister, and she is shunned. However, as she is bent backwards by her husband, she becomes the ideal woman. She is beautiful, she is rich, she is obedient, and she is adoring. Whether this is because she chooses to become more kind to Petruchio, or she actually just wants him to stop abusing her, is something that is part of a big debate. I personally like to think that it has to do with her finding a match in Petruchio, something that she had been looking for. She found an equal mind and will.
Mary Wollstonecraft noted some marriages that had brainless women married only for looks and money. She said that these unequal marriages were no different than prostitution.Katharine seems to echo this opinion when she asks her father "is it your will to make a stale [ie, a whore] of me amongst these mates?" (1.1.57-58). She recognizes that her only marriageable quality to Hortensio and Gremio involve her money and her looks, and even those aren't strong enough to lure them in. What kind of marriage would that be? Definitely not one of equal minds, or equal anything for that matter. Katharine, I think, is able to find a way around that hindrance by finding a mental and spirited match in Petruchio. He is able to keep up with her wits and tempers like no one else has, and that gives her someone to actually connect with.
Wollstonecraft's brand of feminism demanded for equal partnerships, and healthy minds for women. Katharine displays an active and sharp mind that in unequaled by many people. Though her marriage is harsh in many ways, she is definitely equal to him in mind and tongue. In actions and control, however, he still retains the upper hand.
