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.
The Wife of Bath upholds the misogynistic image of women for only one of many reason: she is controlling. She is a very forwardly dominant female, and she likes to be in control of her relationships. She shared in the prologue that she liked to govern her husbands according to the way she saw fit. She believes
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For example, the Wife of Bath boldly states among many that she often uses her “instrument” or her body as a weapon in order to gain power in her relationships. To be blunt, she has sex with her partners in order to get what she wants. If that’s not enough evidence to claim that she is diabolical, she takes it a step further by describing a particular incident with her fifth husband that supports this claim further. The Wife of Bath sees her fifth husband reading a collection of stories about how bad women are. She snatches the book from him, and rips it up. The fifth husband becomes enraged by this and hits her, deafening her in one ear in the process. The Wife of Bath pretends to be dead to make him feel guilty. She does this, not to make him understand that what he did was wrong, but to use her helplessness as a way to achieve power and authority over him: which she ultimately does. These two excerpts of evidence support the claim that the Wife of Bath is viewed as not only controlling, but manipulative. As if this wasn't enough to label her as imperfect and inadequate, Chaucer had to give the Wife of Bath another unappealing flaw: a know-it-all
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
Additionally, Wife of Bath’s idea and desire is for all women to achieve sovereignty which doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t favor men. As you can see, the Wife acts as a feminist here. Although, Alison wants to have the power in the relationship, she b...
The Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales, a novel by Geoffrey Chaucer, is defined by her desires. Firstly, “Why should I care if they were pleased/ I was the one to be appeased.” (Line:220-221 pg:112) Her principal focus is to suffice her pleasures rather than to have a good relationship with all five of her husband's. She Also disregarded all their emotions and if she hurt them during the process of satisfying her ambitions. Additionally, “No doubt you understand this tale/ prepare to pay; it’s all for sale.” (line:420-421 pg:117) In this quote she even admits that her desires for money override her need of sexual activities. She is risking everything, even her body, all because she has this thirst for money. Finally, “Robbed and murdered,
In the words of the Broadview Anthology’s introduction to the Wife of Bath, she is “a sexually experienced cynic who teaches young people the tricks of love…. The Wife’s history and the literary shape of her prologue conform to many of the traditional misogynistic stereotypes found in her husband’s book” (Broadview 298). Why would Chaucer write such a clever portrayal of personal pleasure through the eyes of a woman, and yet design her to possess every quality so despised and abhorred within her so-called lifetime? Because the audience of this poem would probably include wives, and because everything the Wife describes is almost laughably vulgar, it can be understood that this poem would not be interpreted literally and women would instead be forced to listen to an account about female power, desire, and pleasure written, unfortunately, as cruel satire of their
Pride and Lust are the two sins closely associated with the Wife of Bath. The Wife of Bath is a woman who is too proud of herself as shown by her style of clothing. Chaucer begins by describing her familiar Sunday clothing as “Her kerchiefs were of finely woven ground; I dared have sworn they weighed a good ten pound” (463-464). This type of clothing is atypical for a person attending a church service. Moreover, “Her hose were of the finest scarlet red and gartered tight; her shoes were soft and new. Bold her face, handsome, and red in hue” (466-468). All these things exemplifies her self-...
...en compared with modern day women this is a truly outdated stereotype that carries very little weight if any at all. Chaucer’s work in the Wife of Bath stereotypes women as manipulating, sinful, and yearning to gain power over their husbands. And although not always projected in an entirely negative light, it seems that as a whole Chaucer attempted to create an evil stereotype of women.
After spending a year searching for the answer, the knight returns up empty handed. However, he meets an old woman who will provide him with what he desires the most, “‘Koude ye me wise, I wolde wel quite youre hire’ / ‘Plight me thy trouthe here in myn hand,’quod she / ‘The nexte thyng that I require thee, / Thou shalt it do, if it lye in thy myght’ (1008-1011). Women bargaining with a man during the fourteenth century is abnormal. By defying the master narrative, the Wife of Bath makes it appear as though women’s knowledge is the key to curing a man’s helplessness and distress. Therefore, this explains why the old woman knows exactly what women want the most, authority, which she demonstrates in her dominance over the knight (Sturges 45). Chaucer is clearly undermining the patriarchal ideology by defying the master narrative in the way power is
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.
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
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.
The Wife of Bath represents the "liberal" extreme in regards to female stereotypes of the Middle Ages. Unlike most women being anonymous during the Middle Ages, she has a mind of her own and voices herself. Furthermore, she thinks extremely highly of herself and enjoys showing off her Sunday clothes whenever the opportunity arises. She intimidates men and women alike due to the power she possesses. Because of her obnoxious attitude Chaucer makes her toothless, fat and large. Doubtlessly, she is very ugly, almost to the point of "not-presentable. This to me shows how Chaucer depicts what men don't want. The Prioress, on the other hand, serves as a foil to the Wife of Bath. Chaucer describes her as "tender-hearted" who cannot bear the sight of pain or physical suffering. She will cry at the thought of a dog dying. It could represent that she has a frail soul with low tolerance for pain and suffering. The latter description carries over into the modern stereotypes about women as skittish and afraid members of society who need to be cared for.
In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath is a strong woman who loudly states her opinions about the antifeminist sentiments popular at the time. Chaucer, however, frequently discredits her arguments by making them unfounded and generally compromising her character. This brings into question Chaucer's political intent with the Wife of Bath. Is he supportive of her views, or is he making a mockery of woman who challenge the patriarchal society and its restriction and mistrust of women? The Wife's comedic character, frequent misquoting of authorities, marital infidelity, and her (as well as Chaucer's) own antifeminist sentiments weaken the argument that Chaucer supported of the Wife's opinions.
Some even go as far to say that Chaucer’s “literature of the estates is the most comprehensive form of complaint literature” (Tuma, Literature of The Estates). What this means is that Chaucer’s satire towards social classes and estates is most identified by readers. In The Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale Chaucer tells of a fictional character named The Wife of Bath. He uses this character to satirically attack the idea of class and estates of that time. When Chaucer is telling he describes her that “She'd been respectable throughout her life,/Married in church, husbands she had five,/Not counting other company in youth;/But thereof there's no need to speak, in truth.” (Coghill, lines 461-464). Chaucer is using satire to attack social classes by showing a common example of a women in those days. He is basically attacking Plato’s idea from The Republic. Plato said that women should be educated and treated equal to men. Chaucer highly disagrees with Plato. He thinks that women should never be equal to men. He shows this character called The Wife of Bath who is saying that she has had five husbands and is looking for a sixth one. She is starting to claim her own independence. Chaucer wrote this as a satire. He is brutally attacking how independent women are becoming, and how educated they are getting Chaucer. Chaucer thinks they should always be below
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.
The Wife of Bath has a very negative view of women because she shows how women misuse their power given to them. She depicts women as being manipulative and always placing the blame on others. The Wife of Bath “wrecked [her husbands’] peace, innocent as they were, without remorse! For [she] could bite and whinney like a horse and launch complaints when things were all [her] fault”(268-269). She shows how women are not strong enough to accept their own faults; therefore, they take advantage of their youth given by God, and attack old, innocent men. Moreover, in her tale, the Wife of Bath shows how the old woman takes advantage of her power to make the knight