The English language has not always been the language we know today. In history, there have been three different evolutions of the language. There was old English, Middle English and modern English; which is the language we know and study today. However, there is a language that is universal; sarcasm. Also known as satire, this form of writing has been around since the time of the Romans with Juvenal and Horace. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a very a text with very obvious satire called Canterbury Tales. Chaucer was a very important poet and author at the time as well as today. He was the type of author who didn’t care if he offended anyone, but could easily relate to the common folk. He used the General Prologue in order to introduce all is characters …show more content…
During this period, there was no questioning the fact that women were property. Men dominated the earth and women were kept at home. It was customary for men to beat their wives at home, the only restriction was that the stick must be no thicker than a man’s thumb. With The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, Chaucer starts criticizing this idea that women are less valuable or important than men. Bath’s wife speaks of her five husbands and their horrible treatment of her. She tells of her fifth handsome Johnny and how he beat her. “None of my pleasures would he let me seek. By God, he smote me once upon the cheek because I tore a page out of his book, and that’s the reason I am deaf.” (The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, Page 7, Lines 407-411) In many ways, Chaucer began the feminist movement that is still being fought today. “Blatant, intentional discrimination against women is far from being something merely to be read about in history books.” (Fine) No, it is also read about in the news today as well as in Chaucer’s Canterbury …show more content…
Throughout Chaucer’s lifetime, he did in fact experience the class system. There were the commoners, the knights and nobles, the monarchs and then the church. At this time, these classes did not mix under any circumstances. “Most of the mess that is called history comes about because kings and presidents cannot be satisfied with a nice chicken and a good loaf of bread.” (Donnelly) The separation between the classes became a very large issue. Chaucer challenged this through the wife of Bath as she told her tale. “This act of violence made such a stir, so much petitioning of the king for her, that he condemned the knight to lose his head, by course of law. He was as good as dead.” (The Wife of Bath’s Tale Page 139, Lines 35-38) Kings, in this period of time had the power to do whatever they pleased, whenever it best suited them. No commoner or knight could change their mind. Though knights had a higher standing than commoners, not even a knight could stand up to a
Chaucer's view of the clergy class is not as positive as his view of the ruling class. For example, Chaucer describes the Prioress/Nun using a great amount of satire. He speaks of how the nun has excellent etiquette and manners. She tries so hard to be respected and viewed as one with higher status. Her character is best described in the quote:
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)
There is an evident change from women being completely subjected to men's superiority and authority to them starting the question the social rules and beliefs. Through "The Wife of Bath" Chaucer illustrates women’s need to be in control in order for men to be happy. Through Alisoun, Chaucer demonstrates how women are beginning to advocate for their rights and illustrates medieval society’s views of women in power ultimately conveying that women need to be in power for men to be happy
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.
has done whatever she has needed to do to get what she wants, and the author
Why would all of a sudden, the knight change his heart near the end of the tale? Did the
In so much that the Wife of Bath fights back against the oppression against women, she in turn ends up treating her husbands in the same oppressive manner. It is interesting to note that in her rants against men being the controlling force in marriages, she herself was a bully to her husbands. This makes it difficult to interpret Chaucer's intentions in creating a strong women character advocating for her due rights. By vocalizing her thoughts and what were most likely many women's thoughts of his day, he gives an identity and power to those without a
Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale” focus on the story telling of a woman who has experienced her fair share of marital issues. She is depicted as a promiscuous woman, married five times and had plenty of male suitors, the Wife was not like any other woman during this era. Although her reputation was how most perceived her, she was not a fan of being scrutinized for what she considered as her duty as a woman; to not remain single. This is seen through the depiction of women in society, how marriage ought to be in the eyes of religion, and how men were to view a woman like her. The language that is used throughout Chaucer’s prologue and tale allude to the evolution of women as well as how they struggled to gain any recognition in
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
Geoffrey Chaucer used sarcasm to describe his characters in "The Canterbury Tales." It will point out details that are seen in the book that help explain how he used this sarcasm to prove a point and to teach life lessons sometimes. I will also point out how this sarcasm was aimed at telling the reader his point of view about how corrupt the Catholic Church was. Chaucer uses an abundance of sarcasm, as opposed to seriousness, to describe his characters in "The Canterbury Tales."
Chaucer’s most brutal attack was on the high ranking class and nobility, his use of satire allowed for him to make accusations of their lack of accountability for their actions. This concept was outlined in the Wife of Bath’s Tale, where a young knight physically assaulted a maiden the instance was brought to a court of the king and the knight was then sentenced to execution. The queen, however, chose to spare the knight’s life if he was able to find what women desired most within one year. He returned to the court a year later and revealed that women wanted freedom more than anything, and in return he was forced to marry an old lady that revealed the secret to him. This was what taught him the ultimate lesson. The old lady made a deal with the knight, he could have her old and ugly, but loyal or he could have a young and beautiful wife that he could not trust; when presented with the choice the knight chose to let the woman decide. “The knight thought long, and with a piteous groan at last he said, with the care in life, “My lady and my love, my dearest wife, I leave the matter to your wise decision. You make the choice yourself, for the provision of what may be agreeable and right in honor to us both, I don't care which; whatever pleases you suffices me.” (lines 374-381) The knight has learned that he cannot control his wife and have her love him, as a result of this revelation the lady changes herself into a loyal and beautiful wife. This lesson
The manifestation of Chaucer’s perceptions lie in the actual tale as well as the prologue of The Wife of Bath when power is no more than momentarily relinquished to a man non-consensually through rape. Power is hastily regained by women when the rapist’s fate is put
The Wife of Bath had five husbands and justifies it by using the Bible. She believed that it was okay to marry more than once, because the Bible never said to just marry one person and one person only. Solomon had more than one wife. “But wel I woot expres, withoute lye, God bad us for to wexe and multiplye: That gentil text can I wel understonde” (27-29). The Bible says “to be fruitful, and multiply” (King James Bible, Gen. 1:28). The Wife’s husbands were all good men, and she was on the search for a sixth husband. She states that Jesus was never really specific about virginity. She also stated that we have the parts for sex and should use them as such: “they were nat maad for noght”