Kate and Petruchio’s marriage within William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, first performed in 1623, lends itself to a rather bleak description if viewed from a negative lens: an oppressive hierarchy which exhibits a clear acceptance of domestic violence within marriage. From this perspective, Petruchio mistreats and publicly shames Kate, causing her to wither into a mere shell of her shrewish self. If only Kate’s marriage could mirror her younger sister Bianca, who weds Lucentio: sweet, submissive, and sustainable, a pure and conventional relationship, standing the test of time. However, an analysis of the text through the lens of marital fulfillment reveals that Kate does not need any retribution, Petruchio should not face harassment for his actions, and Bianca and Lucentio’s marriage will not end prosperously as the people of Padua thought. Kate and Petruchio’s madly mated marriage fulfills them both, far more than Bianca and Lucentio’s conventional marriage, because of their playful imagination and expressed marital roles produced through the taming process.