How would Petruchio from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew have been seen in Elizabethan and modern times?

The question most likely is asking for a comparison of the way Petruchio’s behavior in regards to women would have been regarded in Shakespeare’s time versus how it would have been regarded today.  In Shakespeare’s time, women really had no power, which is ironic considering that Queen Elizabeth reigned for most of the time. 

Petruchio is a male chauvinist who shows the reader that he believes women exist for the pleasure of men.  When he...

The question most likely is asking for a comparison of the way Petruchio’s behavior in regards to women would have been regarded in Shakespeare’s time versus how it would have been regarded today.  In Shakespeare’s time, women really had no power, which is ironic considering that Queen Elizabeth reigned for most of the time. 

Petruchio is a male chauvinist who shows the reader that he believes women exist for the pleasure of men.  When he is speaking to Hortensio  in Act I, he mentions that he is looking for a wife.  Hortensio, his friend, warns him away from Katherine, but Petruchio says: “And therefore, if thou know / One rich enough to be Petruchio’s wife, / As wealth is burden of my wooing dance, / Be she as foul as was Florentius' love, / As old as Sibyl and as curst and shrewd / As Socrates' Xanthippe, or a worse, / She moves me not, (I.ii. 52-57).  Petruchio really does not care if Kate is a shrew because he knows he holds the power in the relationship.  He deprives Kate of food, of nice clothes, of a comfortable house, and by the end of the play, she is willing to say or do anything he desires.  “Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot, / And place your hands below your husband’s foot: / In token of which duty, if he please, / My hand is ready, may it do him ease” (V.ii. 186-189).  Katherine’s statement here reveals that she has given in—an entirely appropriate reaction in Shakespeare’s time.

In our time, however, Petruchio’s actions would not be well-received.  Women are largely independent and able to stand on their own; it is unlikely that a woman would allow her husband to deprive her of food or clothing in order to make her “obey.”  Today, Petruchio would be viewed as an abusive husband or at the very least, a controlling one.