Shaped by Circumstances

From how Katherine has been acting recently, it seems like she has given up on opposing Petruchio. Since it is in her best interest to go along with what he says, I think that she will outwardly appear to be tamed. For all intents and purposes, she'll be tamed and look like a new woman, but since she has such a strong personality, I suspect that she will covertly oppose Petruchio from time to time in ways that won't incite punishment from him. Since the strength of their personalities seem to be relatively equal, Petruchio has the advantage because he's the male in a Shakespearian marriage. Although Katherine might have a strong personality, it's much easier for her to go along with the taming so that she isn't ostracized by society or tormented by her husband.
On the other hand, since Bianca seemed to be showing some signs of independence and assertion (especially with "Cambio" and "Litio") and I think that she'll probably start to lessen the sweetness and submissiveness once she's married. I suspect that Katherine and Bianca are actually inherently not as different as they seem at first glance, it's just that Katherine had been conditioned over time to be a shrew by what people expect of her – Shakespeare wrote that she was famous throughout Padua for her scolding tongue. Similarly, Bianca had been submissive and sweet because that's what everyone expected from her – not to mention it made her life much easier than her sister's. Once she's married to a young man that she favors (she can basically get anyone she wants with her cloying attitude), she'll have more of an opportunity to drop, or at least lessen the dainty, girly facade. She seems to be the sort that would gradually stop being so sweet as she gets bored of her partner.
However, Katherine may actually end up being loyal to Petruchio over time (since he's the one who saved her from the "shrew" label) and he may gradually become less of a bossy, misogynistic rogue as they become more comfortable with each other. I think that Petruchio was just being over the top oppressive to "tame" Katherine and put on a show for the others in Padua. Once their reputation has been established, he can lessen the shrew tamer act and safely be more respectful of Katherine.

(Note:  Since I can't predict something I'd already read, I tried to remember what I thought before I'd read it, so much of this post is speculating about events past the ending of the book.)

The Power of a Name

In my opinion, your name only has as much power as you give it. In fantasy novels or movies such as Eragon or Spirited Away, names often have a sacred meaning and enable others to control you via magic, but in our culture, names don't have much real power.

While it is true that the woman losing her maiden name traditionally meant that she was being given away from one family to another, her independence doesn't rely on what her surname is. Both my mom and sister are married, and while my mom kept her maiden name (I've never actually asked her why – it's probably just because of the paperwork), my sister took her husband's surname. I know both of these women (it feels peculiar to refer to my sister as a woman...) very well and they both have a great relationship with their family while also maintaining their independence. With my sister's marriage, it didn't feel like she was being sent off to another family, it felt more like I gained an older brother. Of course, the importance of a woman's maiden name varies from person to person within our culture (in other cultures, the power of names is quite different, and I don't know enough about that to comment). Nowadays, it seems to me like the biggest problem with women changing their names is the paperwork. All that isn't to say that names are entirely meaningless, of course. A woman's surname used to basically tell who her owner was, and it still can have some of that meaning intertwined.

Personally, I wouldn't care too much about whether or not my hypothetical future wife changes her name. I definitely wouldn't change mine because my last name is perfectly normal and it's a huge hassle to do all the paperwork. I might even encourage my hypothetical wife to keep her maiden name to avoid the paperwork problems...

Feminism: Equality or Matriarchy?

Although all the feminist quotes going around the internet these days shows that patriarchy is still an issue, we have definitely made significant progress in recent years. The quotes show that an issue exists, but they also show that people are aware of the problem. What’s more, the general attitude towards what would be considered a “shrew” is much more positive now. Instead of a bossy woman just being considered an unattractive witch, she can be considered confident and ambitious today (of course, if she takes it too far, she can still be called an unattractive witch – but then that applies to everyone in society).

I think the fundamental idea behind feminism is great, but I'm not particularly fond of the word. The word feminism seems to focus more on the female side of things as opposed to the equality side of things. Because of the more radical feminists out there who seem to think building women up requires breaking men down, the feminist movement has become somewhat of a joke. This is very unfortunate, because it creates increases animosity between some people within society. Depending on how the word is defined, I might or might not consider myself a feminist. Since the term has a very negative connotation nowadays that is very skewed from the dictionary definition of it, I wouldn't consider myself a feminist at all. 

This quote is a solid example of how women are sometimes assessed entirely based on how aesthetically pleasing their body is instead of what type of person they are and what the contribute to society. The more I think about these words, the more I hope it was said in an ironic, sarcastic way.

In my opinion, it’s impossible for men and women to be completely equal because of biological differences, but we should still strive for equality in society. While we should strive for equality, I think that right now, there is far too much unnecessary drama about equality and human rights. I am of the opinion that equality can be achieved in a more efficient manner, but that may just be me being naive (humans can be rather frustrating...). A woman’s person's role inside and outside the home depends on the individual and there is no way to make a quick and easy rule that covers all cases.