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The Wife of Bath is both the joke and the jokester herself within the text, which highlights Chaucer’s ulterior motive of calling medieval anti-feminist stereotypes into question. The reader can see this idea through a multitude of instances, mainly when speaking of her last husband and her story of the knight and his quest. Women of that time period were essentially powerless, and Chaucer simply highlights a woman who is tired of this notion and wants to change it. What Jankyn did of reading “that cursed book all night” and the actions that ensued show that not only is The Wife of Bath tired of the fact that only men were writing and recording stories that put women in a bad light, but that it also had to be pretty frustrating to put up with
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 the Horatian satire, The Wife of Bath, Chaucer is trying to teach the reader that if you respect others, you will get respect back. When the knight disrespected the maiden in the beginning, he was almost put to death. When he respected his wife as she was in the end, she respected him back. The reader also learns that “the most important thing is doing good deeds.” (Chaucer) Overall, the purpose of The Wife of Bath is to tell the reader how important it is to be a good
Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" is a medieval legend that paints a portrait of strong women finding love and themselves in the direst of situations. It is presented to the modern day reader as an early tale of feminism showcasing the ways a female character gains power within a repressive, patriarchal society. Underneath the simplistic plot of female empowerment lies an underbelly of anti-feminism. Sometimes this is presented blatantly to the reader, such as the case of Janekin's reading aloud from "The Book of Wikked Wives" (The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale 691). However, there are many other instances of anti-feminism that may not scream so loudly to the reader. This is shown in the disappearance of the rape victim and the happy ending for the Knight. While the overall story is one of supposed feminism shown through women's empowerment, there are many aspects of "The Wife of Bath" that are anti-feminist in nature.
Although society has advanced dramatically technologically, I feel that we still have a long way to go when it comes to how we view one another. It amazes me that in a society such as ours, that bases its existence on the equality of all people, that misogyny (as it occurred in medieval times) still takes place. A timeless example of misogyny is the objectifying of women, which suggests that a woman's sexual beauty is her only worth. In dealing with this misconstruction, some women, as in the case of Bercilak's wife in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and Alisoun in "The Miller's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales, use their sex appeal to deceive, lure, and, manipulate men. A small part of me shamefully admits that I respect, and even appreciate, the way in which a woman can outsmart a man by entertaining his sexist views; however, as a whole, I strongly feel that if a woman uses her sexuality for her own advancement, then she is contributing to her own misogyny.
The Wife of Bath, with the energy of her vernacular and the voraciousness of her sexual appetite, is one of the most vividly developed characters of 'The Canterbury Tales'. At 856 lines her prologue, or 'preambulacioun' as the Summoner calls it, is the longest of any of the pilgrims, and matches the General Prologue but for a few lines. Evidently Chaucer is infatuated with Alisoun, as he plays satirically with both gender and class issues through the Wife's robust rhetoric. Scholars and students alike have continued this obsession with her, and as a consequence Chaucer's larger than life widow has been subject to centuries of scrutiny. Indeed, she is in the vast minority amongst the Canterbury bound pilgrims; apart from the in-vogue Prioress she is the only female - though she appears in no way daunted by the apparent inequality in numbers. It seems almost a crime to examine masculinity in her prologue and tale, but as I hope to show, there is much to learn both about the Wife and about Chaucer from this male presence.
Traditional female characteristics and female unrest are underscored in literary works of the Middle Ages. Although patriarchal views were firmly established back then, traces of female contempt for such beliefs could be found in several popular literary works. Female characters’ opposition to societal norms serves to create humor and wish- fulfillment for female and male audiences to enjoy. “Lanval” by Marie De France and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer both show subversion of patriarchal attitudes by displaying the women in the text as superior or equal to the men. However, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” also incorporates conventional societal ideas by including degradation of women and mistreatment of a wife by her husband.
It was common at the time these texts were written for males to describe women in a similar manner, often relegating them to the traditional status of powerless, dutiful, and housebound. However, conversation between de Pizan and Lady Reason contradicts this as Lady Reason provides examples of women who have held similar positions as men and been equally as successful in their endeavors. Lady Reason states to de Pizan, “Believe me, many crucial and worthy arts and sciences have been discovered thanks to the ingenuity and cleverness of women…” (de Pizan), again reassuring de Pizan of female equality amongst men. De Pizan, however does not place emphasis upon the idea of promoting feminism at the expense of men, such as is evident in Arisophanes’ Lysistrata. She, instead, prioritizes her plan to erase the opinionated differences between men and women in order to reveal a truthful image of the human experience. Likewise, Geoffrey Chaucer, in “The Wife’s Bath’s Prologue,” contends that while men are viewed as superior beings in society, women possess similar characteristics that motion for the equality of genders. Chaucer effectively instills actions of cunning and deceit to reveal the superior abilities women hold over men that were never written about in men’s tales. The Wife takes clear advantage of men’s fears and weaknesses in order to gain
These lines truly reflect what The Wife of Bath wanted Jankyn to hear about how she feel about hearing that book on wicked wives. The actions those wives did were probably done for a reason. Even though we are never told of how the problems escalated these wives possibly did what they needed to do because of their husbands. The women just wanted to have respect from their husbands and likely did not get it. Furthermore the moment when the answer was finally given described how shocked the women were and felt
The character of the Wife of Bath in Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Prologue is a strong woman who knows what she wants from life. She is ahead of her time, seeing that women who portrayed themselves the way she does were not necessarily looked positively upon. In this sense, I believe that the Wife of Bath is a feminist. When I use the word feminist I do not mean bra-burning, men hating feminist. I mean a woman who is in touch with herself. She is her own genre when it comes to feminism. She is comfortable with her sexuality and what she wants from life. Through Chaucer, she is viewed as a promiscuous; however, she is actually in control of her sexual adventures.
The Wife of Bath 's prologue and tale has a very personal authenticity to it. Although Geoffrey Chaucer is the author, the wife of Bath takes agency to talk about herself and her experiences. It is almost as if the wife speaks for him. The expectations of married women, at the time The Canterberry Tales were written, were to be modest, true and obedient wives. The wife of Bath, however, admits to using her own experiences as the source of her knowledge in marriage, and not the views of society. It is the fact that she relies on her internal thoughts and experiences that allows one to see her (and Chaucer 's) personal insight on the desires of married women. Although some may say that the wife of bath is simply looking for dominion over her husbands, Chaucer characterizes the wife of bath as a bold woman, and also uses the first person point of
During medieval years women were stereotyped as less than men and as a disadvantage for them. Similarly, in the story, women are seen as deceitful and seekers of beneficial sustain. Even her last husband Jankyn thought that women were misleading. Therefore, he read a book of “wicked wives”, which contained stories of manipulative and very bad wives. Annoyed by this, the Wife of Bath decided to tear the pages from the book and throw it away. Jankyn got extremely mad and hit her really hard on the head leaving her partially deaf. In particular, this part of the text shows the reader the lack of respect women receives and how little men value them.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is an important part of his most famed work, The Canterbury Tales. One of the most respected highly analyzed of all of the tales, this particular one is important both for its character development and its prevailing themes. It seamlessly integrates ideas on society at that time with strong literary development. This work stands the test of time both because of its literary qualities and because of what it can teach us about the role of women in late Medieval society.
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.
Women have the ability to get what they want, when they want it. Chaucer portrays the Wife of bath as the dominant person in her marriages. She looks at men as her trinkets to be used and played with. She moves from one man to another, always looking for more. The Wife of Bath is a control freak, wanting to have sex when she desires it and with whom she desires.
In Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath Prologue, Alison defies her society’s strict Christian and wifely beliefs that they hold for women. Alison has been married five times, and she feels that her experience should make her more knowledgeable, so she should be the dominating spouse of the marriage. She defends others’ opinions by defending herself in saying that God made women so that they could multiply. Alison manipulates her husbands by verbally and sexually luring them into obeying her every command. Although Alison’s approach to gaining more respect as a woman was not necessarily morally right, she did successfully lay a base for today’s ideas of feminism.