'The Wife Of Bath's Tale'

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.

Wife of Bath’s Tale Constructed Response Rough Draft In “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer, the knight of the story is given a choice between beauty and love. He surpasses the expected and creates a third option by letting his wife choose for him. His actions go against the characteristics of a man in the 14th century.

The tale I choose is The Wife of Bath's Tale. Why my choice was this one is because it is teaching you the meaning of what women want and how to treat one. There was a knight and his wife who was very ugly but she was faithful and good to him. The knight has never had a ugly wife before and he was ashamed of it. The knight had told his wife that he is ashamed but she didn't take it personal. The wife had made him a deal either he can have her faithful and good to him or either she can turn young and fair but unfaithful. His response to his deal was he was silence but said he would trust what she decides what to do. After that his wife chooses what is best and she turned into a beautiful and good women to him. Now they both live happily ever

The “Wife of Bath’s Tale” in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales consists of a prologue describing the character Wife of Bath and a tale that reflects on her personality. The “Prologue” describes her experience with her 5 husbands and her authority on marriage. Her first marriage began at the mere age of twelve and she alludes to the fact that her first husband as well as the two that followed were much older and wealthy As the Wife of Bath goes on to describe her husbands, she calls three good and two bad. The first three were old, rich, and submissive, making her the one with the power in the relationship. She teased and tortured these three to get what she wanted.

  The answer to the question: “Women desire to have the sovereignty and sit in rule and government above their husbands, and to have their way in love” (Chaucer 2102).   The truth of this statement is shown,

It is a well-known fact that the past has not been kind to women’s potential. With stereotypes of virtuousness and what it means to be a proper ‘lady’ still persisting today, it does not have to be imagined how strong of a code it was earlier in history. However, works such as William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” and Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” demonstrate the few instances of a female character standing out from the traditional mold of their time. Despite adhering to society's norms at the end of their stories, the female perspective adds credibility to the gender's portrayal while breaking down gender stereotypes. By allowing the female characters to take an active role in the patriarchal society, it enables them to show themselves as potential equals to men.

In the wife of bath tale, we learn of a Nobel knight who has been sent to ask women what they most want. When the knight came to the wife of bath he did not realize how greedy and envious she is of the upper class. Not realizing this they make a deal saying if she tells the knight what women really want he has to marry her. In Dr.Guisepi’s article we learn about middle ages back then a “women’s role usually were defined in relation to run”

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 Wife of Bath begins the prologue to her tale by boasting of her experience in marriage. She has married five men already, and ignores the idea that this is a reproach to Christian principles. She is merely adhering to the Christian principle of "be fruitful and multiply." She cites the case of King Solomon, who had multiple wives, and tells the group that she welcomes the opportunity for her sixth husband. She also points out that Jesus never lays down a law about virginity, and essentially states that we have the parts for sex and should use them as such. The Pardoner objects to the Wife of Bath's musings on marriage, but she decides to tell

The investigation into whether or not Geoffrey Chaucer was ahead of his time in terms of his views on feminism has been up for debate for hundreds of years. The Wife of Bath’s Prologue is just one solitary

The wife of bath represents many good and bad characteristics. Chaucer describes her as a lovely person but many of the other characters in the tale describe her as extreme. Her saying on marriage, conjures responses from single men who never want to be married. Her views are scandalous; they dispute the teaching of the church.

The wife of bath’s prologue and tale is a narrative poem that solely focuses on the biography of wife of bath. Literary devices Epithets are largely used in this poem. For instance, “lower purse” in line 44a refers to male’s scrotum and strongbox indicates assets.

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.

“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a story about a widow who took a pilgrimage to the town of Canterbury with an array of dynamic characters whose diverse backgrounds allowed them to share their stories with one another to make the long journey more interesting. The widow named Alisoun in the “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” told the tale of her experiences with her five past husbands and a story about a knight and a witch. She truly believed that for a woman to have a happy life she would need to gain dominion over a man; however one could assume this was programmed into her by her influential mother and her own religious doctrines. Accordingly, Alisoun argued that the woman must control everything in

The idea of a happy marriage has always been described as one that is full of compromise. It has always been said that to make marriages work, both parties must be willing to give a little bit up to gain it back later. In the Wife of Bath’s Tale Prologue and story, this idea called into question. During both of these stories, the idea of give and take is a major topic. Largely because the ones that are getting, are giving up essential control over their lives. In a world where divorce seems to be at an all time high, these tales attempt to shed light on what it would take to create a happy marriage or relationship.