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A very symbolic artist by the name of Beyonce once sang lyrics that said “you see her, she getting paid She ain't callin' him to greet her, don't need him, her bed's made.” What women most desire varies depending on the type of person and their personality. According to the Wife of Baths Tale, women most desire independence and power over their husbands. In the story, women claim that having power over their husbands is to have their independence, trust and respect. “Freedom to do exactly as we please, with no one to reprove our faults and lies.” (Page 188, lines 112-113) It also says that women are thought of as pretty much helpless which helped create the strong desire to be dominant. “We are thought if as dependable, discreet, and
secret, firm of purpose and controlled.” (Page 188, lines 122-123) Throughout this long quest for answers on the constant, lingering question of “What do women most desire?”, he came across a wide variety of answers of which most were the complete opposite of what he had assumed. After spending countless hours searching for a way to gain knowledge of something he never thought in depth about, he finally was able to give an answer. “My liege and lady, in general,” said he, “a woman wants the self-same sovereignty over her husband as over her lover, and master him: he must not be above her.” (Page 190, lines 213-216) For thousands of years, men had, and have always been perceived to have authority over women, and children, due to the facts of them being stronger and providing for the entire household. Because of that, women never really were given many opportunities to show that they too are capable of being in a position with some kind of authority. Women most desire sovereignty over their husbands, as stated in the story, the Wife of Baths Tale. Women do deserve to have power just as much as men do, as well as opportunities, which was previously stated and supported with a quote by Beyonce, in the beginning. With this being said, should women truly be allowed to have 100% of the power they desire?
There was a time (not so long ago) when a man's superiority and authority wasn't a question, but an accepted truth. In the two short stories, "Desiree's Baby", and "The Yellow Wallpaper", women are portrayed as weak creatures of vanity with shallow or absent personalities, who are dependent on men for their livelihood, and even their sanity. Without men, these women were absolutely helpless and useless. Their very existence hinged on absolute and unquestioning submission…alone, a woman is nothing.
Looking back through many historical time periods, people are able to observe the fact that women were generally discriminated against and oppressed in almost any society. However, these periods also came with women that defied the stereotype of their sex. They spoke out against this discrimination with a great amount of intelligence and strength with almost no fear of the harsh consequences that could be laid out by the men of their time. During the Medieval era, religion played a major role in the shaping of this pessimistic viewpoint about women. The common belief of the patriarchal-based society was that women were direct descendants of Eve from The Bible; therefore, they were responsible for the fall of mankind. All of Eve’s characteristics from the biblical story were believed to be the same traits of medieval women. Of course, this did not come without argument. Two medieval women worked to defy the female stereotype, the first being the fictional character called The Wife of Bath from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The second woman, named Margery Kempe, was a real human being with the first English autobiography written about her called The Book of Margery Kempe. In these two texts, The Wife of Bath and Margery Kempe choose to act uniquely compared to other Christians in the medieval time period because of the way religion is interpreted by them. As a result, the women view themselves as having power and qualities that normal women of their society did not.
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.
In the tale that Geoffrey Chaucer had wrote, The Wife of Bath’s Tale, a man was described as a Knight. This Knight wasn’t like any normal Knight, he messed up and raped a girl. This is a big mistake, giving a lot of Knights a bad name, and having those that look up to them start to be disappointed in them. Usually the punishment that is given to those that rape, or in general any other crime, is death or time in the slammer, however, the Queen says no because he is a good looking guy. Instead of death, he had find out what women most desire from men. He is given a year and a day to find out, and on the last day, when he nearly had given up all hope, he sees an old woman in a field who makes a deal with him. The old lady gives the Knight a choice: to have an old, but faithful, wife, or to have a drop-dead gorgeous woman, but to have her never to be faithful, before she tells him what the Queen wants to know. The old lady and Knight get married and she wants him to sleep with her, like husbands are supposed to do with their wives. They argue and she gives him the two choices again; to have an ugly wife, but she is faithful. The other choice is to have a drop-dead gorgeous wife, but is never faithful. With this, he learns a lesson, and sufficient punishment.
The claim presented in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” argues that a woman who is free to make her own decisions will reward her husband with a happy marriage. The first hint of the concept of women being dominant begins when the knight is faced with death for raping a woman. Typically this is an automatic death sentence in the kingdom, but the Queen changed the King’s mind so she was put in power over the knight’s life. As stated in the book “he granted him his life on the spot,/and gave him to the queen, completely at her will,/to choose whether she would save or destroy him” (Page 339, lines 40-43). Already at this point the idea of the women having dominion over men is being hinted at, where she has complete control even over his life. In order to save his life the knight was told by the Queen to find what all women want in life, a great...
strong that the two knights feel that it is worth more than life. At one point
The tale is that of power and who has or should have the control in a relationship is it political, economical, governmental or sexual. The Wife of Bath clearly believes that she, and all women, should have the control in relationships and especially over husbands.
“The life so short, the craft so long to learn” (Famous Quotes). The Canterbury Tales is enriched with humanistic merit that allows the reader to sharpen his or her own craft of life. Specifically, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” and “The Clerk’s Tale” are embodied with multiple struggles of life that pertain to life in the present. Despite seven centuries of society constantly evolving, the two stories’ plots can still be further analyzed through similar themes about relationships that pertain to modern society and how rhetorical strategy allows the audience to relate to the narrative characters.
Is not what we desire, the most hard to get? It has always been this way. Unfortunately, women’s rights and abilities have been underestimated over the centuries. In the fourteenth century, the status and condition of a European woman depended on her husband’s position. Women had to endure arranged marriages, abuse and male dominance. During that time, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales and taught us about one extraordinary woman whose name is Dame Alisoun. Alisoun is called The Wife of Bath, and she defines what women desired most in fourteenth-century England. She believes that women wish for power over their husbands, and I personally agree with her opinion.
In the Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer the story tells about men and women going on pilgrimages, among them the Wife of Bath in search of her 6th husband, who go on a journey to pay their respect to Sir Thomas á Becket. During the story the Wife of Bath strongly expresses herself as a very strong woman and knows what she expects with the men shes with. As well as this, with all her beauty and respect she was given in life the Wife of Bath displays herself highly. Finally, she ideals her actions with the knowledge she knows from the Bible. Therefore, because of her control, beauty, and knowledge the Wife of Bath is a woman that most women would look up to.
In the Middle Ages, when The Canterbury Tales was written, society became captivated by love and the thought of courtly and debonair love was the governing part of all relationships and commanded how love should be conducted. These principles changed literature completely and created a new genre dedicated to brave, valorous knights embarking on noble quests with the intention of some reward, whether that be their life, lover, or any other want. The Canterbury Tales, written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer, accurately portrays and depicts this type of genre. Containing a collection of stories within the main novel, only one of those stories, entitled “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, truly outlines the 14th century community beliefs on courtly love.
Sustaining his excursion for the answer, the knight stumbles across an elderly woman who coincidently possesses the answer. Cunningly, aware of his fatal fortune, she barters the answer for her unannounced request, furthermore, succumbing to the generalization of manipulation and deceitfulness. Agreeing to her conditions, the knight relays the answer to the kingdom expressing women most desire sovereignty over their husbands and lovers. Detrimentally, this stereotypes women’s profound desire as domination over their husbands. Solely owning control of personal actions and free will should never be infringed, however, if this occurs, the relationship is unequal, relinquishing control to one person. Assuming all women desire this dominion over their husbands, instead of themselves, is disrespectfully radical. Satirically addressing fresh enlightenment on these generalizations of women, invite understanding and awareness to the
The Wife of Bath is one of the most famous characters within Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. In her prologue, it is quickly made clear that she has had a lot of husbands and by a lot I mean five. Since she has all this experience with men, The Wife of Bath dedicates her prologue to describing how each of her marriages went. In her five marriages she has been accused of lusting too much, to being too controlling, and being abused. While some good husbands were good and some were bad, The Wife of Bath depicts a solid image of her feelings toward men. In her relationships, she must always have the upper hand. She is the type of woman who gets what she wants when she wants it. While describing one of her marriages, The Wife of Bath explains how
Chaucer: Wife of Bath In the Wife of Bath, the Wife’s prologue is very lengthy and has information about her life. The prologue explains the wife’s theories about experience versus authority. The wife of Bath already has five husbands, which means she has enough experience in marriage to make her an expert. She is not ashamed of her life or marriage and feels she should not be criticized for her behavior. The wife references several biblical quotes to justify her views and explains she does not feel God should punish those who marry more than once.
...sed on the information given in the tale, I feel that women don’t desire to have power over their husbands. However, I do feel that women desire to have power, just not total power over their husbands like the Wife feels. I feel that women like to have an equal balance of power with men. I do not think that the Wife sees this as being possible. She seems to be so angry at men, because of the bad experiences that she has with her five husbands, and she doesn’t seem to want to change her belief in the fact that women have so much power. She actually demonstrates the power that women have towards her five husbands. She always seemed to get her way with them. Sadly, in today’s society, women are still not given the proper credit they deserve. It is shameful that women don’t receive equal representation in many situations. This is a topic that is still debated to this day.