The Role Of Women In The Wife Of Bath

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What means necessary would one take to obtain power in intimate settings such as love and marriage? In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, one encounters a very bold, confident, fearless, and controlling woman. One learns in her prologue that the Wife of Bath is not the one to conform to medieval societal norms. She does not follow what women are supposed to be portrayed as. This woman has had five husbands who widowed her, she was the dominant figure in her relationships, she used respected materials such as the Bible to justify her active sexual life, and believed that men should be submissive to their wives. In her tale after a knight raped a woman he is sent by the queen and court to discover what women want most in
Due to the fact she was often judged and ridiculed by this she often used high people of status like Solomon, Abraham, and the Apostle Paul to defend her views. “I know that Abraham was a holy man/And Jacob too -- I speak as best I can -- /Yet each of them, we know, had several brides, / Like many another holy man besides” (Page 260) The Wife of Bath referred to these men who were praised and idealized by many to show that if it was justified for these men to have multiple wives why would it not be for her situation. Especially when it was after her husbands died when she looked for love again. She expressed how people should be less judgmental of her because these men moved on even when they were still with their wives and enjoyed their lives sexually. This quote had an overwhelming amount of confidence and fearlessness with the tone due to the strong use of “I” communicated which demonstrated how she knew who she was and that she believed in her view strongly. In addition she used evidence from the Bible to ensure her points which made her sound intellectual . The use of references used that were most
In the wife's tale a knight raped a woman and was sent to court for sentencing. The only way out of getting sentenced to death was to find the answer to a question the queen and court decided upon. “A twelve month and a day to seek and learn /Sufficient answer, then you shall return./ I shall take gages from you to extort/surrender of your body to the court.” (Page 283) This part of the tale created a serious and controlling picture because in this situation one could die and one has been raped. The queen has taken control over the knight and then she sent the knight to find the answer of what women wanted most in a marriage. The woman who were raped had no power in the forced intimate contact that the knight brought upon her. Although, she had no power the queen possessed the power to sentence him to death. Instead of just killing him right away she took an educational method to teach the man what women want in their encounters with others. Along the way he met one woman who was willing to help him, but after she attended court with him to present his answer she forced him to marry her. The knight had little power because the women possessed the control due to her deal with the knight which saved him. As time went on, the woman noticed how he was not happy and asked him if he would rather an unfaithful but pretty wife. He let the woman decide for him and she

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