However the fact that this is an illusion may question the way Katherine behaves later in the play proper. .
The final theme, which is continuous throughout the play, is the theme of marriage. Sly resists all the servants" attempts to convince him that he is a lord until they tell him he has a wife, at which point he immediately reverses himself "Am I a lord? And have such a lady?" Shakespeare emphasises Sly's pattern to blank verse, which is spoken primarily by Shakespeare's noble characters. Before Sly only spoke in prose. .
The humour of the situation is obvious, though Sly is at first pre-occupied with making sense of his outrageous change of circumstances, as soon as he discovers that he might be able to have sex he immediately stops questioning whether his situation in real or fantasy, commanding his wife to "undress you and come to bed now", at which point his language switches back to prose. Shakespeare here playfully introduces a number of ideas of marriage is something that people use at there own benefit rather than a reflection of some deeper truth about the named couple. .
As a romantic comedy, the play focuses principally on romantic relationships between men and women as they develop from initial interest into marriage. In this respect the play is a typical romantic comedy however unlike Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew instead emphasises the economic aspects of marriage - specifically how economic considerations determine who names whom. The play tends to explore romantic relationships from a social perspective, exploring the institutions of courtship and marriage rather than the inner passion of love. .
During the induction the lord makes references to Sly as being inhuman "O monstrous beast, how like a swine he lies! Grim death, how foul and loathsome in thine image", this links with the play proper as Gremio describes Katherine as inhuman and uses imagery of death and hell.