Shakespeare was no contemporary of the twentieth century and he had no idea that feminism was going to breathe into existence long after his time and scorn him for his injustices toward the women in his plays. Honestly, I cannot fathom how he worked Kate's speech and the notorious wink into The Taming of the Shrew in the first place, considering my opinion is that Shakespeare was undermining the concept of female roles in British society at the time. Kate is a bold character and she has her whimsies... and she comments more than once that her husband and/or suitor is half crazed; such as the lines from act three,scene two, "I must, forsooth, be forced to give my hand.../ Unto a mad brained rudesby..." suggest. As for the speech Kate makes at the end of this comedy, I feel that it is exactly a statement of definance.
             Kate is opposed to the idea that good wives should be judged by the amount of obedience to their husbands they display in front of others. She is so disgusted, in fact, by the ordeal that in the end she does her part of being the "tamed," submissive wife in front of the other women, and at the end winks at her husband as if to say, "They'll never forget this, I've shown them my independence once again!" If, indeed, Kate has been tamed, no one will be able to prove it considering no textual evidence works strongly in either way of this predicament. The text does give us clues abut Kate's character that could suggest she is indeed a highly sarcastic woman, but whether the speech is serious or not can only be stated through conjecture. In act two, scene one; Kate discovers she is to be wed to Petruchio, and as the two converse both Kate's wit and her suitor's persistence in becoming her tamer are apparent:
             KATHERINA. Where did you study all this goodly speech?
             PETRUCHIO. It is extempore, from my mother wit.
             KATHERINA. A witty mother! witles...