Dame Ragnell and Alison's Tale
In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath (Alison) teaches her audience what it is women most desire through her tale. The tale she tells resembles the tale of Dame Ragnell. These stories are analogies, perhaps both arising from a similar folk-tale source. Both stories are set in the magical Arthurian times when the fields and forests teemed with gnomes and unearthly creatures. Although both stories have the same moral and end on similar note, there are some vivid differences that we simply cannot overlook.
It is very possible that Alison's tale is a custom tailored version of the Dame Ragnell story. The knight in "The Wife of Bath's Tale" is portrayed as a selfish hedonist whose behavior is anything but courteous. It seems as if Alison twists the story of Dame Ragnell to suit her own selfish needs and makes the point that "men are scum" for her tale begins with a noble knight of king Arthur's court raping a maiden:
And so bifel it that King Arthour
Hadde in his hous a lusty bacheler
That on a day cam riding fro river,
And happed that, alone as he was born,
He sawgh a maide walking him biforn;
Of which maide anoon, maugree hir heed,
By very force he rafte hir maidenheed; Norton, 888-894.
As a result of the knight's behavior, the queen gives the knight an ultimatum. He now must find "what thing it is that wommen most desiren" within a twelve months time frame (Norton, 911). Alison does not depict the knight in the nicest light. I guess she is the one "painting the lion" in this case.
Unlike "The Wife of Bath's Tale," the story of Dame Ragnell portrays Sir Gawain as an exemplary hero who is loyal to his King beyond belief. Sir Gawain promises to marry the loathsome Dame Ragnell in order to save the King's life and illustrates his devotion to the king by following up on his promise. When King Arthur gives Gawain the horrific description of the foulest maiden ever seen by men and poses the question to Gawain, Sir Gawain's reaction is the quintessence of loyalty:
'Gawen, I met today with the foulest lady
That evere I sawe sertenly.
She said to me my life she wold save…
But first she wold thee to husbond have.
Wherfor I am wo begon-
Thus in my hart I make my mone.
It is up to her whether to make the knight the happiest man on earth or to make him miserable for as long as she lives.
The story of Dame Ragnell and "The Wife of Bath's Tale" are works that are very similar yet have differences that set the two apart. The most obvious comparison between the two works is the dilemma faced in each. In both stories a man's life is at stake and all he has to do to be spared is to answer one question. That question has to do with what women really want. Another similarity involves the outcome of each story. The differences between the two stories are revealed in the plots. The differences that stand out the most are the circumstances leading up to the question being asked and the attitude of the person that has to marry the old hag to get the answer to the question. There are many small differences between the stories but they are not as important as the two mentioned.
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are filled with many entertaining tales from a variety of characters of different social classes and background. The first two tales told, by the knight and the miller, articulate very different perspectives of medieval life. Primarily, The tales of both the knight and the miller bring strikingly different views on the idea of female agency, and as we will discover, Chaucer himself leaves hints that he supports the more involved, independent Alison, over the paper-thin character of Emily.
Some say women can get the worst out of a man, but in The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1485, proves it. The tales were originally written as a collection of twenty four tales, but has been narrowed down to three short tales for high school readers. The three tales consist of “The Miller”, “The Knight”, and “The Wife of Bath” along with their respective prologues. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer shows the weak but strong role of women throughout the “The Knight’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” to contrast different human characteristics and stereotypes on the spectrum of people.
"In the earliest Arthurian stories, Sir Gawain was the greatest of the Knights of the Round Table. He was famed for his prowess at arms and, above all, for his courtesy. ... Here Gawain is the perfect knight; he is so recognized by the various characters in the story and, for all his modesty, implicitly in his view of himself. To the others his greatest qualities are his knightly courtesy and his success in battle. To Gawain these are important, but he seems to set an even higher value on his courage and integrity, the two central pillars of his manhood. The story is concerned with the conflict between his conception of himself and the reality. He is not quite so brave or so honorable as he thought he was, but he is still very brave, very honorable. He cannot quite see this, but the reader can.
... The Miller portrays Alison as a "wild and young" (205) woman throughout the entire tale, making it clear that she does not respect the relationship with her husband at all. It can also suggest that she is not an angel or the “good wife” that she likes to pretend to be. It is obvious that Alison likes to use her beauty and body in ways to make it easier to obtain the things that she desire just like The Wife of Bath indirectly hints in her tale.
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the Canterbury tales a collection of short tales in the 14th century. The compilation of stories are told by different characters within the narrative as part of a game proposed by the host. Each individual must tell two stories on their journey and two stories on their way back. Each story tells some aspects of English life during the time and often added satire like qualities to the English life. In particular Chaucer often tells stories with elements of the relationship between man and women. He gives a clear representation of what the expected behaviors at the time are for men and women. Men are the more dominant, they control more of the relationship and provide for their wives, and the women are submissive and are supposed to do as they are told. However these elements are presented in Chaucer’s work he often takes a role reversal in his writings. Chaucer makes most of his female characters stronger and causes the roles to be reversed between man and women. The wife of bath tale is an excellent representation on how Chaucer demonstrates the role reversal between man and women.
In The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, the stereotypes and roles in society are reexamined and made new through the characters in the book. Chaucer discusses different stereotypes and separates his characters from the social norm by giving them highly ironic and/or unusual characteristics. Specifically, in the stories of The Wife of Bath and The Miller’s Tale, Chaucer examines stereotypes of women and men and attempts to define their basic wants and needs.
The structure Geoffrey Chaucer chose for his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, of utilizing a melange of narrative voices to tell separate tales allows him to explore and comment on subjects in a multitude of ways. Because of this structure of separate tales, the reader must regard as extremely significant when tales structurally overlap, for while the reader may find it difficult to render an accurate interpretation through one tale, comparing tales enables him to lessen the ambiguity of Chaucer’s meaning. The Clerk’s Tale and The Merchant’s Tale both take on the institution of marriage, but comment on it in entirely different manner, but both contain an indictment of patriarchal narcissism and conceit.
The two tales, told by the Wife of Bath and the Clerk in The Canterbury Tales, have parallel plots. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” begins with a lusty knight standing before his king’s court because of unjust acts he committed with a young maiden. Before the king can execute the knight, the queen objects and offers that the knight’s life is spared if he can find the answer to what women really want. The knight embarks on his journey to discover the answer (“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” 167-68). Similarly, “The Clerk’s Tale” takes place in the kingdom of Saluzzo, Italy under the control of Walter, the marquis. The people of Saluzzo eagerly advised Walter to find a wife to ensure an heir to the throne. Walter finally finds the standard, beautiful woman in poverty named Griselda. She values hard work and humility, and Walter chooses to marry her. However, she must take a vow to Walter never to complain and to be loyal despite whatever the future may bring. Both plots revolve around the noble class and the differences among the social structure of the time because of the variety of characters portrayed in each tale. The two tales’ plots are d...
Crane, Susan. "Alison's Incapacity and Poetic Instability in the Wife of Bath's Tale." MLA 102 (1987): 20-27.
As a man fascinated with the role of women during the 14th Century, or most commonly known as the Middle Ages, Chaucer makes conclusive evaluations and remarks concerning how women were viewed during this time period. Determined to show that women were not weak and humble because of the male dominance surrounding them, Chaucer sets out to prove that women were a powerful and strong-willed gender. In order to defend this argument, the following characters and their tales will be examined: Griselda from the Clerk's Tale, and the Wife of Bath, narrator to the Wife of Bath's Tale. Using the role of gender within the genres of the Canterbury Tales, exploring each woman's participation in the outcomes of their tales, and comparing and contrasting these two heroines, we will find out how Chaucer broke the mold on medievalist attitudes toward women.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Wife of Bath Tale.” The Canterbury Tales. Trans. R.M. Lumiansky. NY: Bantam, 2006. 184-192. Print.
Chaucer, in his female pilgrimage thought of women as having an evil-like quality that they always tempt and take from men. They were depicted as untrustworthy, selfish and vain and often like caricatures not like real people at all. Through the faults of both men and women, Chaucer showed what is right and wrong and how one should live. Under the surface, however, lies a jaded look of women in the form that in his writings he seems to crate them as caricatures and show how they cause the downfall of men by sometimes appealing to their desires and other times their fears. Chaucer obviously had very opinionated views of the manners and behaviours of women and expressed it strongly in The Canterbury Tales. In his collection of tales, he portrayed two extremes in his prospect of women. The Wife of Bath represented the extravagant and lusty woman where as the Prioress represented the admirable and devoted followers of church. Chaucer delineated the two characters contrastingly in their appearances, general manners, education and most evidently in their behaviour towards men. Yet, in the midst of disparities, both tales left its readers with an unsolved enigma.
...t sound as if he is making fun of women from the traditional courtly love stories, by using a very sexy young girl in his story, because the women from the traditional courtly love stories are not women who show off their femininity as much as Alison, who displayed it around. Women from traditional courtly love stories are also not sneaky and cunning, they are innocent and kind women, the complete opposite of what Alison is.