Woman in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” compared to the women in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows a progress or a power shift between men and women. When the knight sees the old lady and asks her for her help, she’s the only one who has that power to help save him. Now in terms of power, the old lady and the Wife differ in how they show their power. For example, The Wife in the prologue, she talks about her having five husbands and is looking for the sixth one and how her husband who “shal be bothe my dettour and my thral / And have his tribulacion withal / Upon his flesh whil that I am his wif.” (shall be both my debtor and my slave / And bear his tribulation to the grave / Upon his flesh, as long as I’m his wife) (The Wife of Bath’s Prologue 161-163) and even how she “have the …show more content…
The old lady makes a comparison (By ancient books, you gentlemen engage, / Yourselves in honour to respect old age) and then makes the comparsion with herself, “Now ther ye saye that I am foul and old: / Tahnne drede you nought to tbe a cokeworld, / For flithe and elde, also mote I thee, / Been grete wardeins upon chastitee” (You say I’m old and fouler than a fen. You need not fear to be cuckold, then. Filth and old age, I’m sure will agree / Aare powerful wardens over chasity) (The Wife of Bath’s Tale 1219 - 1222). The queen from Beowulf was said to be the model of how true queen should be, in that I see how she would keep peace between her husband and his brother and would only say that right things to him. With the Wife and the old lady, they would speak not to coddle the men around them, but rather give them a reality check. Even the lord’s lady form Sir Gawain and the Green Knight would act on lust, much less like the Wife, she would only do it by the order of her husband, the lord/ Green Knight, unlike the Wife who would do it for it’s her power to do
Women were always viewed as weak, dependent, and powerless in the Middle Ages. Not only is it a common view during that time period, but this also is often stereotyped labeled to women today as well. In the romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the hatred of women is portrayed throughout. However, while women are certainly looked down upon, they also are influential to the knights. This romance also portrays how a woman having different characteristics, could change the way she was viewed as well. Although women in the Middle Ages appeared to lack power, the women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight have a hidden influence over the men and actually drive the action of the medieval romance.
The Wife of Bath is portrayed as a strong-willed, alpha female. The Wife of Bath upholds the misogynistic ideas of Chaucer's time because she is a controlling, manipulative, know-it-all woman. Her personality and behavior both reflect the negative attributes that women were shamed for during that time. She is opinionated, dominate, and diabolical; all qualities that were not accepted easily in a woman. She defied the norm of that time.
In Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, the author shows, in a deeper, fictional descriptive fashion, a look into English life of the late 1300s to the 1400s. Written in an ambiguous undertone, this poem is left for interpretation by the reader. This seemingly unknown author examines the personalities and character traits of Sir Gawain, and other people within the patriarchy by examining them through the different what they did in life, and how they conducted themselves within specific company. Particularly through Sir Gawain, the Pearl Poet examines more than just pride within this text, but bravery, honor, and temptation.
“Culture does not make people. People make culture” said Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian writer and educator, in a presentation on feminism in a TedTalk. The culture in which Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written was misogynistic and it shows in the writing of the poem. Medieval cultural misogyny manifests itself in multiple ways in SGGK. This paper will examine the negative relationships between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and gender by discussing: the representation of female characters, gendered violence, and Christianity in the Middle Ages.
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is an example of medieval misogyny. Throughout Medieval literature, specifically Arthurian legends like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the female characters, Guinevere, the Lady, and Morgan leFay are not portrayed as individuals but social constructs of what a woman should be. Guinevere plays a passive woman, a mere token of Arthur. The Lady is also a tool, but has an added role of temptress and adulteress. Morgan leFay is the ultimate conniving, manipulating, woman. While the three women in this legend have a much more active role than in earlier texts, this role is not a positive one; they are not individuals but are symbols of how men of this time perceive women as passive tokens, adulteresses, and manipulators.
In the Middle Ages, the roles of women became less restricted and confined and women became more opinionated and vocal. Sir Gawain and The Green Knight presents Lady Bertilak, the wife of Sir Bertilak, as a woman who seems to possess some supernatural powers who seduces Sir Gawain, and Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale, present women who are determined to have power and gain sovereignty over the men in their lives. The female characters are very openly sensual and honest about their wants and desires. It is true that it is Morgan the Fay who is pulling the strings in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; nevertheless the Gawain poet still gives her a role that empowers her. Alison in The Wife if Bath Prologue represents the voice of feminism and paves the way for a discourse in the relationships between husbands and wives and the role of the woman in society.
In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Chaucer opens his story by telling about a certain amount of people who are going on a pilgrimage. The Wife of Bath stands out more compared to the other characters that are involved in these stories. In Chaucer’s “General Prologue,” the Wife of Bath was described as a woman who was talented and a flamboyant person who shows she is not fearful. She is also referenced as a woman who is powerful and gets anything she desires. She has a lot of experience in love and sex. She shows off her clothes with evident pride, her face is wreathed in heavy cloth, her stockings are a fine scarlet color, and the leather in her shoes is soft and fresh. In “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” the Wife of Bath discusses marriage, power and sex. The Wife of Bath is an selfish an authoritative woman.
The Wife of Bath explains that despite having five husbands, “marriage is a misery and a woe” (Chaucer 1). As a reader, this is somewhat humorous because of the irony. This irony sets a light-hearted tone for the rest of the Prologue. The Wife of Bath demonstrates that her multiple marriages stem from her burning desire for sovereignty. Not only does the Wife of Bath long for power over her husbands, she also enjoys the game of gaining sovereignty over men. This pleasure is most prominently exhibited when she is faced with her fifth husband. Despite being abused by him, she claims to have loved him the most. Although this irony is dark, the irony makes the situation more comical. Eventually, she gains power in their relationship and the husband says, “My own and truest wife, do as you please for all the rest of life, but guard your honor and my good estate” (Chaucer 129). By turning over his land, he has admitted to be submissive in their relationship. While the ironies make this Prologue somewhat humorous, the satire demonstrates that women should be in power over men. The Wife of Bath has been in power in all five of her marriages, which sets a precedent for other women. The Wife of Bath not only shows that women should have sovereignty, but that the game to fight for sovereignty is entertaining and exciting as well. Just as William Thrall has said, Chaucer
One of the most interesting and widely interpreted characters in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is the Wife of Bath. She has had five different husbands and openly admits to marrying the majority of them for their money. The wife appears to be more outspoken and independent than most women of medieval times, and has therefore been thought to symbolize the cause of feminism; some even refer to her as the first actual feminist character in literature. Readers and scholars probably argue in favor of this idea because in The Canterbury Tales, she uniquely gives her own insight and opinions on how relations between men and women should be carried out. Also, the meaning of her tale is that virtually all women want to be granted control over themselves and their relationship with their husbands, which seems to convince people that the Wife of Bath should be viewed as some sort of revolutionary feminist of her time. This idea, however, is incorrect. The truth is that the Wife of Bath, or Alisoun, merely confirms negative stereotypes of women; she is deceitful, promiscuous, and clandestine. She does very little that is actually empowering or revolutionary for women, but instead tries to empower herself by using her body to gain control over her various husbands. The Wife of Bath is insecure, cynical towards men in general, and ultimately, a confirmation of misogynistic stereotypes of women.
Comparison of women’s role in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Tale of Genji
Women played a huge role in both the Gawain and Arthur stories by contributing to interesting plot twists. In most of the stories, women were very sneaky, and tricked many men into doing many things or betraying them. The women in these stories can be related to characters from the Bible. Sometimes women in the stories could be helpful, but many just wanted to seek revenge. Some women may have seemed nice toward the beginning of the stories, but all of them betrayed or sought revenge on men in many of the stories. Men were the dominant figures in the Middle Ages, but women seemed to hold all the power in the stories.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight comments on the social constructs for males and females through its characters. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that men are superior to women. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the men are judgmental and use women, but do not wield power over them. Rather, the women have immense influence over their male counterparts, which they use to decrease the value of the men through manipulation. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight speaks to the immoral character of both men and women through the treatment of Guenevere, Lady Bercilak, and Morgana Le Fay by Sir Gawain and the lord, and through the way that the men are tricked and criticized by the women.
The Wife of Bath is a complex character-she is different from the way she represents herself. Maybe not even what she herself thinks she is. On the surface, it seems as though she is a feminist, defending the rights and power of women over men. She also describes how she dominates her husband, playing on a fear that was common to men. From a point of view of a man during that time period, she seemed to illustrate all of the wrongs that men found in women. Such as a weak parody of what men, then saw as feminists. The Wife of Bath constantly emphasizes the negative implications of women throughout the ages. She describes women as greedy, controlling, and dishonest.
Throughout history, the majority of famous literary works are written by men. This means that a great many male authors, at some point or another, wrote about women. This meant that they only had two points of reference for any female character: the way society viewed women, and the women in their lives—the very ones that were trying to fit those same societal standards. Women’s portrayals of other women are different. They tend to deviate from the general tropes found in literature. This is especially true for authors during the medieval era, when the roles of men and women were much more rigid than they are today. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows how medieval society viewed women and where they believed feminine power lay; it does so
The Medieval era was a period dominated with Christianity and assigned gender role that affected one social and political role within society most particularly the role accustoms to women who were assigned the roles of mother, wife and caretaker. The prologue of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath portrays a complex narrator who argues against the societal roles of women as submissive while also exposing her marriage and sexual life in which during her time would be frown upon. By challenging the stereotypical role of a medieval woman by defying a male-dominated society the narrator uses this authority to empower women. The narrators open the prologue stating that her auctorite does not come from possessing authority but rather that her story