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The values of chivalry
Western civilization chivalry
The values of chivalry
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My first vacation out of the United States was to a resort in Cancun, Mexico. My family had just landed from a grueling connecting flight and we were all in foul moods. My brother, sister, and I were complaining about our legs being sore. While, my mom and dad were arguing about where to go. After the heated discussion, we found a bus that was going to the resort. My family and I gathered our luggage and packed it on the crowded charter. Unexpectedly, the most profound part of my trip was the short twenty minute ride to the resort. As soon as we left the airport, I was struck by the immediate poverty. The airport had shielded us from the most evident displays of impoverishment. One of the most striking instances was a naked woman bathing in a filthy river with an infant. I saw this no more than five minutes away from our resort which seemed unbelievable. Just looking out the window of the charter made my siblings and I quickly stop complaining about our legs. The short bus ride showed me the unfairness of the world. Why had I seemingly been given everything and this infant given nothing? This experience taught me gratitude at a young age. Just how I …show more content…
For example, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” teaches about chivalry and inner beauty. The stories told during the pilgrimage summarize the lessons a person can learn while traveling. Just how “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” teaches of chivalry; traveling can teach the same lesson. There is no definition of chivalry that every culture can agree with. Each culture has different standards and customs which effect their idea of chivalry. Traveling exposes different people to different cultures where they can learn and draw from each other’s standards. This creates in a person new ideas of chivalry which they can implement in their own lifestyle. Traveling embraces being exposed to various cultures which can teach, much like a story, about a certain
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.
Sigmund Freud, the originator of psychoanalysis, once stated the following: “The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is ‘What does a woman want?’ In the three works we studied in class I believe that all the stories have the different answers to this question. In Medea, the Wife of Bath, and Emilia I believe that there are three different answer they would give to this question. In Medea, you still a strong and hurt person. The Wife of Bath tale tells us what the women believe that every woman desires. Lastly, Emilia is very intelligent and loyal. While these three tales are very different, they are also very much the same. As I read deeper into the stories, I realized that Freud statement is answered throughout these works.
How are men and women depicted in The Tale of Genji, The Lays, and The Wife of Bath’s Tale?
The main theme of the Wife of baths tale is the two of the seven deadly sins “lust and greed”.
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.
“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.
When I was little, I heard stories of Third World countries where people lived in complete poverty. I would hear of how they had dilapidated domiciles, contaminated water, deadly diseases, and shortages of food. I was always told how blessed I was to live in a country where I was free of these situations, but I always took this truth for granted. I would go along every day, not worrying about where I was going to sleep or what I was going to eat, when people all over the world were facing these situations as problems. It wasn't until I was sixteen that I realized how blessed I was, when I was given the opportunity to visit San Jose, Costa Rica.
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.
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.
In The Canterbury Tales Wife of Bath’s Tale, the author incorporates major events in the text that relate to power in many different ways. In addition, in the text the author illustrates the sovereignty that women have over man in various ways. Furthermore, there is power in knowledge because with knowledge there is freedom. Also, in the text a character loses power over the external events that occurring in their lives. In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, the author illustrates a woman’s power through authority, marriage, and punishment.
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a story about a widow who took a pilgrimage to the town of Canterbury with an array of dynamic characters whose diverse backgrounds allowed them to share their stories with one another to make the long journey more interesting. The widow named Alisoun in the “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” told the tale of her experiences with her five past husbands and a story about a knight and a witch. She truly believed that for a woman to have a happy life she would need to gain dominion over a man; however one could assume this was programmed into her by her influential mother and her own religious doctrines. Accordingly, Alisoun argued that the woman must control everything in order to have a happy marriage; however, her life experience and the story she shared should tell her otherwise.
Geoffrey Chaucer is, to this day, one of the most famous Middle-English writers. His view of corrupt societies and how things "may not always be as they seem" was incredibly accurate and has even carried over its accuracy into the modern era. His writings are highly controversial and bring out the faults in the most conservative aspects of society—especially when it comes to sexism and the church. In The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, he speaks about 31 people going on a pilgrimage. The entire selection is heavily weighted and based on one key thing, which is how it is structured. The entire story is split up into sections which entails many to call it a "story within a story." Better yet, it is more accurately described as stories
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.
Chaucer characterizes the Wife of Bath as strong-willed through the opinions he gives her. As portrayed throughout her prologue and tale, the character of the Wife of Bath is definitely an opinionated person. When she raises the opinion that women should marry as many times as they like (Wife of Bath Prologue 6-45), Chaucer is able to show that she is determined. No matter how many times the Bible or other people say she is wrong in marrying so many times, she continues to live the way she wants to. Living her life with perseverance for the happiness she wants, adds to Chaucer’s characterization of her as strong-willed. In addition, the author gives the character of the Wife of Bath the opinion that the most important aspect of a marriage is
Each of us had learned something from that trip. For me, this experience has taught me what gratitude is, the impact a good attitude has, what a servant looks like, and really how the relationships we make with our life are the most important aspect of life. It was the summer after my freshman year of high school. Earlier in the year, my parents had decided that they wanted to go on a mission trip as a family and serve somewhere.