 However, in a modern western society, holding relatively egalitarian views on gender, such an interpretation presents a dilemma, as according to said interpretation the play seemingly celebrates female subjugation.Critically, four main theories have emerged in response to Katherina's speech;


George Bernard Shaw wrote in 1897 that "no man with any decency of feeling can sit it out in the company of a woman without being extremely ashamed of the lord-of-creation moral implied in the wager and the speech put into the woman's own mouth.