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The wife of bath a short note
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The wife of bath a short note
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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,
what a crime/ But come and kiss me one last time.” (line:807-808 pg:128) In this quote, The Wife of Bath accuses Jenkin of murder in order to get him to pay her so that she will keep the occurrence a secret. Her eagerness to rob, even a husband that she loves, is unbelievable. If she really loves Jenkin, why would she want to hurt him financially by robbing him?! Not only does she love him, but she knows that he is not rich yet her desires take control over her and she takes all of his money too. Therefore, throughout this story, The Wife of Bath certainly demonstrates how a person should not be controlled by their desires.
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-...
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
The image of the woman in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue is depicted by Chaucer to be “barley wheat” in a town and civilization lusting for whole white wheat or virginity (Chaucer 1711). The woman has married many men and in doing so forgotten the true value of the Christian faith and now believes worldly influence can overpower the scriptures of the Bible, “can you show in plain words that Almighty God forbade us marriage? Or where did he command virginity?” (Chaucer 1709). Jackie Shead analyzes the prologue and states, “it begins by manipulating authoritative texts--a pre-emptive strike to justify the Wife's marital history and her single-minded pursuit of self-gratification” (Shead). The possibility of the Wife of B...
In the Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Chaucer illustrates the different perspective between men and women on the concept of marriage and love. In The Wife of Bath’s tale, it is shown the woman appreciating marriage and wanting to be able to love a man unconditionally as where in The Miller’s Tale, love isn’t anything, but sex with the man in the story. In accordance with Chaucer, the complication with marriage is that men are consumed by sexual desire and are easily abused by women like The Wife of Bath. As noticed, The Miller’s Tale is all about adultery. “Just like men, the wives have secrets, as does God”, says the Miller. Both have information that the other do not know about that are sacred and better left unsaid.
In conclusion, the Wife wants what every woman in the tales wants in a relationship; power. Because of her longing for power she becomes envious of the hag, whom she compares herself with throughout. She wishes that even though she is ugly, as the hag is, she could have the power that the hag has. Many women most likely took the Wife of Bath’s tale and prologue as a delusion, seeing that they would never be able to do those kinds of things to husbands of their own. In today’s society, the Wife of Bath‘s story could compare to Hillary Clinton’s views and thoughts on marriage which to others were absurd and foolish. People may say that she failed as a wife, but as a woman, she exceeded everybody’s beliefs by a mile.
The general prologue of the "Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer the Wife of Bath is one of three of the women. She is the only women is not the nun. It talks about how she was from Bath. Bath is a city of great cloth making. This explains why she is such a good at sewing. She is over exaggerated. Her hat was large and made of fine cloth. She had scarlet stockings. The color scarlet was a symbol of wealth. She had leather shoes. They were new and of soft leather. She wore a skirt. She was said to be fat. She had larger hips and buttocks. She rode a slow horse. She has been to Jerusalem, Rome, Boulogne, Santiago in Spain, and Cologne. She was married five times. She talks about sexuality and love openly.
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 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.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale, found in the Canterbury Tales is a genre of romance that originated in northwestern France during medieval times. In the story, the Wife of Bath goes though different steps on how power is viewed. Also, the tale has a lot of sexual parts, which is an important role during that time period. The Wife of Bath is an opinionated women that has similar and different ideas about woman, men and marriage, compared to how society views those ideas in medieval times.
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.
The Wife of Bath is known as one of the world’s first feminists. Her ability to use her femininity to take advantage of men is acknowledged by many who read Chaucer’s anthology. He writes in line 470 of the anthology, “Gat-toothed was she, soothly for to saye...” By saying this, Chaucer is indicating that the Wife of Bath can appear very loving to men. By her having a gap between her teeth, she is showing a sign of amorousness. Chaucer is furthering this sign into translating that the Wife of Bath is considered attractive by a variety of men. In lines 477 to 478, Geoffrey Chaucer writes, “Of remedies of love she knew parchaunce, for she coude of that art the olde daunce.” Most men may not have realized, but the Wife of Bath knew how to charm just about any man. She had been with so many men that nothing is new to her. This leads one to believe she is very knowledgable and cunning, not just a woman in need of a man’s fortune. It takes an astute observer, like Chaucer, to understand
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a collection of stories that are heavily influenced by the desire for authority over other individuals and sexual needs. The characters of the Canterbury Tales vary amongst each other; some of the characters are similar yet completely antithetical. The Wife of Bath and The Prioress are introduced in the prologue as complete opposite end of each other. The Wife of Bath fully takes advantage of her sexuality in order to get authority in a dominating patriarchy. She is sexually liberated, married five times and fully expresses herself through her actions and her physical appearance. On the other end of the spectrum, the Prioress represses her sexual needs in order to maintain her ascendancy in the Church, but she yearns for sexual liberty. Her impure mind causes her to shift her attention away from her duties and more onto her lustful fantasy. The Wife of Bath’s desire for sovereignty reflects upon her tale and her as an individual.
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 tells a story about a “lusty bachelor” who finds a maiden and “by pure force, he took her maidenhood” which results in him facing possible execution (Chaucer 223). The Wife of bath’s view on men seems to be that they are greedy but that they can change if they are given a chance to. The knight took advantage of the maiden without thinking of the consequences and then received mercy because the Queen and other ladies believed that he may have a chance at redeeming himself. The year that the knight spends seeking the answer to the Queen’s question gets him nowhere until he comes upon a group of young women that disappears and leaves only an old woman who tricks him into marriage. The Knight choses to let his wife decide if she
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath presents a woman’s view on the institution of marriage. The Wife of Bath’s Prologue presents her experience of marriage as an economic exchange of sex for wealth. Alison explains her sex lifestyle within her marriages and how she retains control over her many husbands, thus enabling her to carry out her tale’s message that in marriage, women should have dominion. Her reproach starts when the husband has absolute authority and her greatest unhappiness lies in the moments where her power is threatened. In The Wife of Bath the character shows the qualities of power, lust and unfaithfulness in her marriages.