Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 22: Rāma Instructs Lakṣmaṇa
Text 2.22.19
कथं प्रकृतिसम्पन्ना राजपुत्री तथागुणा।
ब्रूयात्सा प्राकृतेव स्त्री मत्पीडां भर्तृसन्निधौ॥
kathaṁ prakṛti-sampannā rāja-putrī tathā-guṇā
brūyāt sā prākṛteva strī mat-pīḍāṁ bhartṛ-sannidhau
katham = how is it possible [otherwise] for; prakṛti-sampannā = of good nature 4; rāja-putrī = a princess; tathā-guṇā = with such good attributes like compassion; brūyāt = to speak; sā = Kaikeyī-devī; prākṛtā = a materialistic; iva = like; strī = woman; mat-pīḍām = [words that] hurt Me; bhartṛ-sannidhau = in the presence of her husband.
How is it possible [otherwise] for Kaikeyī-devī, a princess of good nature with such good attributes like compassion, to speak [words that] hurt Me, like a materialistic woman, in the presence of her husband?
Śrī Rāmacandra referred to Kaikeyī as a princess to indicate that she was born in a great dynasty. Prākṛteva strī indicates that Kaikeyī behaved like an insignificant woman of bad nature, born in a bad family and devoid of any good qualities. And she spoke to Rāma, who had [formerly] been the object of her unbounded affection, harsh words, not just displeasing words, explicitly, not suggestively, in the presence of her husband and not just anyone else, and that too not even through a messenger, [but directly].