Alternate Alternative Interpretations abound, but does anyone else just think that Kate was a wealthy Alpha Bitch who was used to being able to do anything she wanted without anyone daring stand up to her? The very moment someone finally does, (and I'm taking this from Elizabeth Taylor's cue) she whines that he's not a gentleman if he strikes her back.

She then has to endure Petruchio's "anger flares" where he tosses over dining tables and rips dresses... but how is any of that any different than what Kate was doing in Acts One and Two? "Dear husband, be not so disquiet!"

This seems to me to be a simple story of a Tsundere being broken in.