In The Taming of the Shrew, Act II, scene i, list words Petruchio uses to describe Katharina and explain how it is humorous.

In Shakespeare's The Taming of the
Shrew, in Act Two, scene one, Petruchio makes a list of Katharina's charming
characteristics. He describes her as having beauty and wit. He recognizes her title="affable"
href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/affable">affability and
bashful modesty. He insists that she has "wondrous qualities and mild
behavior."

What makes this so humorous, and ironic, is that
Katharina is none of these things. Where she may be a beauty, it is
only skin-deep. Her wit is sharp, but not to be admired as she uses her tongue like a
razor. She is not affable at all, but very hard to get along with, and the words
"bashful" and "modesty" do not pertain to Katharina under any circumstances, probably
not even when she is sleeping. There is nothing mild about her behavior, hence her label
of "shrew." One would be hard pressed to discover any characteristics she possesses that
could be construed as "wondrous qualities."

Petruchio
says:

I am a
gentleman of Verona, sir,

That, hearing of her beauty and
her wit,

Her affability and bashful
modesty,

Her wondrous qualities and mild behavior,
(50)

Am bold to show myself a forward
guest

Within your house, to make mine eye the
witness

Of that report which I so oft have
heard.

Because we know that
no one has reported the fine characteristics he lists as
Katharina's, we can only assume that he is determined to marry her, and insists that she
is all of these things to push his desire to marry her. He also seems to believe that he
can harness her wild behavior.

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I am as peremptory as she proud-minded;

And where two raging fires meet together
They do consume the thing
that feeds their fury:
Though little fire grows great with little wind,

Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all:(135)
So I to her and
so she yields to me;
For I am rough and woo not like a
babe.