I. Introductory Paragraph -In the time of Chaucer, people had very patriarchal ideas about marriage and women. -They thought that women who remarried so many times were ‘wicked.’ -People believed that men should be in control of the relationship and women should be held in subordination to their husbands. -‘The Wife of Bath’ challenges those ideas. -Chaucer uses support from the bible and logic to make his point. Thesis: Through the Wife of Bath, in both her Prologue and her Tale, Chaucer introduces the modern-day notion that women are entitled to remarry and fulfill their intimate desires and to demand that their wants and unique wisdom be respected by men.
II. Body Paragraph # 1 Subthesis: In “The Wife of Bath,” Alison argues
…show more content…
Claim Sentence: The bible makes no mention of the number of marriages a person could have. 1. In fact, she had “never…heard a designation of the number.” 2. What IS the correct number of marriages? No one has defined it in the bible. B. Claim Sentence: If people are made to procreate, then they should be able to marry or remarry. 1. She mentions that “God expressly instructed us to increase and multiply.” 2. Women have to marry in order to have more children. C. Claim Sentence: If biblical men were allowed to have more than one wife, women should be allowed to have more than one husband. 1. “No man who lives in this world now has so many.” 2. Why can’t women have more than one spouse like the men in the bible, such as Solomon? D. Claim Sentence: There is nowhere in the bible that commands chastity-therefore, it’s a women’s choice whether to marry or not. 1. She claims that God “left it to our own judgment.” 2. Women can choose if they want to remain chaste or not, E. Claim Sentence: If everyone were to stop having children and remain celibate, then new virgins wouldn’t even be born. 1. “if no seed were sown, from where then should virgins spring?” 2. Not everyone has to remain chaste. If they did, then there wouldn’t be anyone
A. We all know that humans have a good side and a sinful side by nature. However through Christ we can redeem ourselves and live a new life in Him.
2. The company asks for the women to marry landowning men so these men can maintain them.
The most controversial aspect of Chaucer’s opinion of feminism is his figurative spectrum of the embodiment of a woman. His depiction of a woman goes from one extreme to the next with no middle ground. Women in the sense of The Canterbury Tales are either perfect and or outrageously flawed. Chaucer creates character in the theme of absolutes, both physically and emotionally. Women are also considered to be either young and beautiful or old and ugly. In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, a knight rapes a young maiden and the queen wants to decide his fate. She gives him a year to find out what women truly want in life. He finds the answer from an old ugly woman who agrees only to help if he marries her. When he does, she gives him the option of either having her as a young and beautiful wife who will not be faithful or as an old and ugly wife who will be loyal. He tells her that because she is his wife, that the decision belongs to her, but the only reason he agrees to this trade-off in power is because of his newfound resignation. He is solemn because he thinks he cannot have the “ideal” wife: young, beautiful, and loyal. In the end of the Wife of Bath’s Tale, she eventually gives him this “perfect” significant other, which only undermines the theme of sovereignty and makes readers question whether he truly learned his lesson or not.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is an important part of his most famed work, The Canterbury Tales. One of the most respected highly analyzed of all of the tales, this particular one is important both for its character development and its prevailing themes. It seamlessly integrates ideas on society at that time with strong literary development. This work stands the test of time both because of its literary qualities and because of what it can teach us about the role of women in late Medieval society.
"The Wife of Bath", in the collection of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, illustrates the stereotypical image of a women in medieval times ("The Portrayal of Gender in The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale.") The tale characterizes women as lustful and greedy burdens on men. However, to readers today, "The Wife of Bath" represents a strong minded feminist woman who is confident and open about her sexuality. Narrated by a character called Alisoun, "The Wife of Bath" reveals an insight to a woman’s point of view in medieval times. Alisoun begins her long prologue by declaring that she follows the rule of experience; announcing that she’s a self–proclaimed women. Throughout the her tale Alisoun questions and challenges the idea of power and authority in medieval society. Through Alisoun, Chaucer gives women a voice to express their call for equality and their need for power. By using description and characterization, Chaucer gives readers an insight to a society in which women are starting to express their desire to have power ultimately arguing that in order for men to be happy women need to have sovereignty in medieval times.
Since few LGBT individuals have a lifespan beyond age 44, it will be impossible to collect data about LGBT elders
In the time period of the 14th century, many woman faced inequality. Women were not viewed to uphold the same quota as men. Most females were viewed as passive to males and were not able to make many demands in their relationships or make any contributions to their own survival or life. In the “Wife of Bath Tale”, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, Chaucer gives an insight into the struggles of a woman. Chaucer gives a voice for women who cannot speak for themselves. He creates a tale for the Wife of Bath that includes and questions the societal views of women. Written in the words of a woman, Chaucer undermines what it means to be a female in the fourteenth century who desires independence and
The Wife of Bath 's Prologue and Tale is about female empowerment it shows strong protagonists. I believe Geoffrey Chaucer used The Wife of Bath’s Tale to advocate for feminism. Chaucer used a strong female character to expose female stereotypes. It was an oppressive time for women in male-dominated society. During the Middle Ages, Chaucer wrote from a woman’s point of view something that was not normal at that time. He set his feminist ideals through the characters of the Wife of Bath and the old woman. He used subtle methods like humor to show his ideals. During Chaucer’s time nobody was used to the idea of women being equal to men, this idea did not exist. Chaucer expressed his ideas in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale by being one of the first to understand and acknowledge a women’s struggle in society, through this tale he shows the difference between men and women and their positions of power. In the Wife of Bath’s Tale, feminism is showed by the knight recognizing and listening to his wife. Chaucer is a feminist for his time because he used humor to mask his unpopular ideas he used these characters to voice his opinions.
b) believe having any number of children is acceptable, and as a result, so is overconsumption
God purposefully designed marriage as one man and one woman, because God recognized that “it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:18 NIV). This companion that God formed came from Adam’s side, and her role in Creation was to be a companion to man who was both a complementary helper and his partner in procreation. At that point, marriage was instituted, as the man and woman were united together and became “one
Chaucer's idea in the Canterbury Tales by using the Wife of Bath to analyze the power that females have, and proving that men can’t always disrespect women the also have to right to leave a pleasing life. She admits proudly to using her verbal and sexual power to bring her husbands to total submission. Societies need to release that women should not be abuse sexually and should not underestimate them by how they look and their goals. In patriarchal societies men have full authority over women in all aspects of society, also known as bias against women. Women were systematically excluded from such power through laws, this made inferior to men.
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
example of the complicated nature of Chaucer’s belief system. On the one hand, we have many strong female characters that despite still being extremely dependant on the men in their lives, know what they want out of life. From a contrasting point of view, readers see a group of men, including Chaucer as the writer himself, making fun of the very nature of women as a whole. Is this really how Chaucer felt towards women, or is the prologue of The Wife of Bath’s Tale simply a parody of the opinions of his time?
A man is the image of God thus reflects his glory that is then shown by their woman.
3. For the first 1,000 years of Christianity (that’s at least HALF of its existence, people), many Christians wouldn’t have considered getting married in a church.