A principal theme throughout Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew is the battle of the sexes. The battle primarily focuses on the relationship between Petruchio and Katherine, otherwise known as Kate. They each struggle for supremacy in a classic confrontation between male and female until Kate succumbs to Petruchio's dominance for the first time during Act IV, Scene V when she states "What you will have it named, even that it is. And so it shall be so for Katherine." In this first act of deference to her husband it remains unclear if Kate simply decides to play along and behave as the traditional Elizabethan wife so they can continue on their travels, or if she has an epiphany and realizes her preordained role in the traditional relationship between husband and wife. Whatever her motive, Kate's submission to Petruchio diffuses their previously competitive relationship by altering the relational dynamics...