Wife Of Bath

Chaucer obviously had very opinionated views of the manners and behaviors of women and expressed it strongly. However, he also made his character “The Wife of Bath” have the complete opposite views of him. She, herself, represents the highest level of feminism possible. One could imagine that she would engage in intelligent and informed conversation with some of the members of her party. As it stands, however, the closest she comes to this is by offering her twisted understanding of the Bible. “‘Gladly”, she said, “if you will let me speak, / But still I hope the company wont reprove me / Though I should speak as fantasy may move me, / And please don't be offended at my views; They're really only offered to amuse…’ ” (Chaucer lines 26-30).

Chaucer has written and finished a total of 24 tales, sadly he did not finish the remaining 96 tales. Although, "The Wife of Bath's Tale" including the prologue of this tale written by Geoffry Chaucer in 1400 is included in the 24 finished tales. "The Wife of Bath's Tale Prologue" and "The Wife of Bath's Tale" by Geoffry Chaucer clearly shows his mix of Mythology and Christianity, his dislike of the church, and how there are only two types of women unless a man fully submitted to his wife, that then his wife becomes the best of both types, this is shown in "The Wife of Bath's Tale Prologue" And "The Wife of Bath's Tale" this is show by references to the Christian God, supernatural creatures, his distaste of churchmen, and his leeriness of women.

a story that reflects the subordination of woman in marriage. By the time of the early

The fact that this question still exists shows that the answer proves neither easy nor definitive. Women are diverse in their idea of what they want and what they desire to fulfill their needs. According to The Wife of Bath, she believes that women want mutual respect. Throughout history, women are portrayed as being the subordinate sex. Moreover, women live lives of being subservient to their male counterparts. The Wife of Bath felt the need to express the fact that there is an obvious problem with the balance of power within the marriage. Consequently, she set forth on a journey to confirm that women can be just as overbearing, domineering and cruel as men. She demanded to be heard.

that he never went to hell (272). She clearly valued sex as the most important attribute of a husband for, “…in our bed he was so fresh and gay….Heaven knows whenever he wanted it- my belle chose-, thought he had beaten me in every bone…”(272) Even though her final husband had beaten her, because he was good in bed with her she felt she loved him the best of them all (272). Clearly, The Wife of Bath valued three things in her marriages, sex, power, and money. In her tale we find that power is an important role to women in marriage. A knight, after raping a women is spared by a queen (282) but in order to save his life, he has one year (283) to find, “What is the thing that women most desire”(282)? After searching, he finds no answer but on his way home finds an old women who promises she will save him, he must promise to do what she asks of him after however, and he agrees (285). When he and the old lady meet with the queen, he exclaimed, “A women want’s the self-sovereignty over her husband as over her lover, and master him; he must not be above her” (286). This answer is perfectly inline with The Wife of Baths views, she always wants to be more powerful than her husband. When the old lady says he must marry her, he protests but soon she offers him two choices, he can have her be old and ugly till she dies, but loyal, or she can be young and pretty and take chance that she might not remain faithful (291). He gives his answer to be that she may choose, thus giving her the

The Canterbury Tales are an accumulation of many pilgrims’ stories as they make their journey to the site of Sir Thomas a Becket’s shrine, as he was the martyred saint of Christianity. There are many stories included in The Canterbury Tales. Of these many tales, one of them is the story of the Wife of Bath, whose real name is Alisoun. From her appearance and behavior, to her political and religious views, there is much to tell about the Wife of Bath, for her prologue and tale are quite long. The Wife of Bath is a very interesting character. In addition to Alisoun as a person, her story is fascinating as well, with a surprising and compelling end to the story. (SparkNotes Editors)

The Canterbury Tales depict many characters that, although fictionally created by Geoffrey Chaucer, may give the reader the opportunity to analyze and interpret their tales as a way of determining their personalities. The Wife of Bath and her prologue accurately supports this statement, as her intentions become expounded due to her questionable actions. The Wife of Bath exhibits in her prologue that she lacks respect and gratitude towards the men she beguiles into marriage and does so by falsely claiming direction from God. She shows not only deceit towards her many husbands, but also does not possess the ability to care about others before herself.

Some expectations for women of this time period were succumbing to the authority of men and staying faithful in marriage. They were

In the beginning of the prologue, the Wife of Bath implements herself as an authority of marriage because she has been married five times. She is justifying her experiences against biblical authority, and interprets scripture in her own distinct way. Given the time period in which this narrative is being told, the biblical references that she uses were necessary in providing a valid argument. Women did not have much say in that time; therefore, anything they said did not interest the public. She uses those biblical references to make her points interesting, to make people pay attention to what she has to say, even if her references are not all plausible. The genre leans more towards a confessional, but the problem is that she defends her sinful

In The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath gives an in-depth look on her life and understanding on the world as she perceives it. During her Prologue, we learn that what she calls experience stems from her first three marriages, but during her last two there is a shift in power. The Wife of Bath demonstrates her understanding and power throughout her first three marriages both physically and emotionally and the contrast of her lack of control in her last two, thus revealing the true meaning behind what she believes is experience during these marriages. The Wife of Bath’s authority can be viewed as realist when paralleled to the chain of being because of the emotional control she has over her previous husbands and the simple fact that she

In The Canterbury tales, Chaucer uses The Wife of Bath as a representation of what it was like for Women in the Middle Ages to be striped of equality and bow to the otherwise male dominated society. For the representation of women Chaucer uses the Tales of “The Scholar”, “The Second Nun “The Reeve’s”, and “The Franklin” and many others in a very dry, pretentious manner to steer readers into the view of how a women of the Middle Ages should be as a so called “virtuous” wife or woman. The concept of marriage plays a major part in manifesting the idea of the issues of inferiority of women. The perception rendered as women having to be obedient and inferior figure to their husbands or male counter parts. Chaucer

The Wife of Bath uses bible verses in “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.” Further, she employs the verses as an outline of her life to find reason in God to justify her actions. Nevertheless, the purpose of the verses differs within each stanza of the poem. The Wife of Bath is a sexually promiscuous, lustful, and manipulative woman. She marries men one after the other as they get older and die. In order to combat and overthrow the speculation and criticism being thrust upon her by societal norms because of her marriages, the wife turns to specific bible passages to find reason in life and support for her actions (Article Myriad.com). When the wife is having sex quite frequently and with different men she is said to be fruitful and multiplying. According to the wife, this is what she is told to do in the bible passage, which she has misinterpreted. Ironically, The Wife of Bath is using a predominantly male dominated book to back up and support her reasons for women being equal to men (Article Myriad.com). Not only has she referred to the benefits of adultery through the bible, she has also attempted to undermine the power of men in the very same way she has attempted to prove that the genders are equal. From this, it can be interpreted that although the wife claims to be providing evidence for women being equal to men, she is actually saying that women are better than men. She misinterprets the readings of the bible and male written passages on purpose in order to suit her needs.

The characters of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales are a very unique group of people. They represent the different social classes within the 14th century. One character that stands out the most is The Wife of Bath a middle aged woman who is a successful merchant. Her personality and actions make her a definable character. She out beats many of the other characters just with her tale along being the longest in the story. Unknowingly The Wife of Bath is represented with feminist qualities about her based on her reactions. She does not have an educational experience but rather uses what she has learn in life as guide to know

The Prioress and the Wife of Bath The Prioress and the Wife of Bath are two very different characters. A nun has to take a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience. The Prioress seems to follow all of these except the vow of poverty. She ate lot, wore expensive materials and wasted food on animals. On the other hand, the Wife of Bath was an extraordinary character that takes on more than one husband.

In Geoffrey Chaucer's, The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer narrates the accounts of several pilgrims on their way to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at the Cathedral in Canterbury. Through his narratives, Chaucer presents his audience with a broad representation of life and social class interaction in both the pilgrims and the characters in their tales. Chaucer brings to light various ideas, thoughts, and commentary in regards to medieval society. The two most significant characters who provide the greatest insight into contemporary medieval society are the Wife of Bath and the Prioress. Through both the Wife of Bath's Tale and the Prioress's Tale, Chaucer articulates his opinionated views of the etiquette and conduct of women in the