...The Wife of Bath begins the Prologue to her tale by establishing herself as an authority on marriage, due to her extensive personal experience with the institution. Since her first marriage at the tender age of twelve, she has had five husbands. She says that many people have criticized her for her numerous marriages, most of them on the basis that Christ went only once to a wedding, at Cana in Galilee. The Wife of Bath has her own views of Scripture and God’s plan. She says that men can only guess and interpret what Jesus meant when he told a Samaritan woman that her fifth husband was not her husband. With or without this bit of Scripture, no man has ever been able to give her an exact reply when she asks to know how many husbands a woman may have in her lifetime. God bade us to wax fruitful and multiply, she says, and that is the text that she wholeheartedly endorses. After all, great Old Testament figures, like Abraham, Jacob, and Solomon, enjoyed multiple wives at once. She admits that many great Fathers of the Church have proclaimed the importance of virginity, such as the Apostle Paul. But, she reasons, even if virginity is important, someone must be procreating so that virgins can be created. Leave virginity to the perfect, she says, and let the rest of us use our gifts as best we may—and her gift, doubtless, is her sexual power. She uses this power as an “instrument” to control her husbands. At this point, the Pardoner interrupts. He is planning to marry soon and worries...
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...citations from the Scripture, but rarely from the bible. Comments on astrological disposition are from a Ptolemaic work (Almansoris propositiones). • The dynamic of the glosses reinforce the notion that the Wife’s Prologue is both literary text with authoritative sources, and a shocking instance of female power. Genre • There is no other Prologue like the Wife’s in the Tales – or in Medieval Literature at large. Its materials are primarily derived from antifeminist tracts, but it is not a tract (A Roman Catholic anthem). • The Prologue can be linked to the medieval version of autobiography known as confessio, but though the Wife admits her former ‘misliving’ (which could be interpreted as confessional), but it’s tone and her/Chaucer’s purpose take it far away from a ‘theological’ form of confession…the Wife has not the slightest intention of changing her life. • Several of Chaucer’s sources allow the...
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...Inbalance Power In the story “ The Wife of Bath’s Tale “ portrays a common issue happening in society. This being that women are seen to be the weakest gender. There is no equal pay, women are underestimated and thought of to be incapable at performing at the same level as men. Although, it isn’t as radical as it was during the time of King Arthur, in this story, the power that men hold is suddenly withdrawn from their hands and put into the delicate hands of the “weaker sex”. It starts off with a flirty knight who thinks that he has every right to take a maiden’s virginity away, against her will. Of course, the knight knew what he was doing and chose to do it anyways, feeling that he has superior power of the innocent maiden’s virginity. It’s like having a perfect rose in your palm and suddenly destroying it with your own hands. You can’t get that perfect rose to be perfect once again. Once committed, the damage cannot be undone. At this point it is evident that the superiority is held by men. Although when the knight is brought to trial, this is not the case. Being charged with rape, during the medieval times, was a crime punishable by death. King Arthur held his knights to the idealized code of honor known as chivalry and was not going to let one knight stain the reputation of them all. But suddenly his jurisdiction is stripped away by her beloved wife, the queen. She simply asks the king to grant her the power to decide the fate of the sinful knight. Now the queen comes...
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...Feminist Criticisms The Wife of Bath is the most revolutionary character in the “Canterbury Tales”. The Wife of Bath is portrayed as a woman who was witty and didn’t care about fitting in as the classic wife. Dame Alyson was aggressive when describing her feministic points of view and puts these views into action. She releases her fury towards men by taking control of them sexually. Dame constantly was antagonizing the common thought of society that a man should be in complete control of a relationship. She seemed crazy to be going against men during this time but that is what made her so revolutionary. Although she narrates herself as a woman who wants power over men she at points contradicts this practice which, creates some harmful stereotypes for feminism. The prologue labels who she is as an actual person and her experience while the tale describes what she is trying to achieve with men. The Wife of Bath lived in a time where men dominated all aspects of life. Dame Alyson opens up her prologue by telling us that during the course of her life she has had five husbands. She was first married at the young age of twelve which was not unusual during this time period. She has been criticized throughout her life because of all the husbands she has had. In the church it is perceived that Christ has only been to one wedding at Cana in Galilee and that it is only acceptable to be married one time. Dame Alyson was able to gain control of these men by using the power of sex to...
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...The Samaritan Woman with Five Husbands Throughout historical and societal achievements, there have been famous writings that have sparked controversial topics and debates. One such writing is the “Wife of Bath” the character of this tale is a woman named Alisoun, she speaks her mind on the condemnation of wives in her time, and how men of that age have looked down upon women as devious creatures. But Alisoun we will find is a contradicting women in her prologue, as she describes her life experience with five husbands; through her expressions and words will a picture be drawn of what she really was as an individual. Alisoun starts off by stating that she is an authority on marriage, due to her life experience with five husbands. Like the Samaritan woman in the bible that she compares herself to, she has been criticized on her numerous marriages (lines 5-14). Yet she shows a religious side of her in challenging the clergymen of her day with scriptural verses and examples, she also expresses a view of God’s plan. In the line “God bad us forto wexe and multiplye”(line 28) she endorses the verse wholeheartedly, now it is my belief that she seems to be a cunning women. For as she is right in quoting this text as a relation to God’s plan, at the same time she is also using this text as a “scapegoat” or excuse to indulge in her passions and pleasures as a women. Though she admits that innocence and virginity is important (lines 80- 93)...
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...The Wife of Bath’s Tale; Chaucer’s Early Feminism When the knight from The Wife of Bath’s Tale is to be put to death for taking the ”maidenhead” of a young maiden, he is offered a chance to live, if he can find out what women really want in life. He finds out that women just want to be in charge of their relationships, and have the freedom to make choices on their own. The knight eventually gets married, and shows his true understanding of what women really want. This suggests that, for his time, Chaucer has progressive feminist views. The Wife of Bath’s Tale displays these feminist values through three major events in the tale. The knight’s sentencing, was a major event in The Wife of Bath’s Tale, and in which, a female was in a high place of power, which displays progressive views towards woman in power. King Arthur lets his queen decide what punishment to give to the knight. The king normally made this decision, but the queen requested to make the decision and “ceaselessly, he [King Arthur] gave the queen the case.”(72) This willingness to let his wife make decisions shows feminist intention from Chaucer. The question asked to the knight: “What is the thing that women most desire?” (81) is a feminist one, for it’s a question not asked too often in that time. The decision of the king to allow his wife to decide, and the penalty decided upon by the queen, both allude to the feminism in The Wife of Bath’s Tale. When the knight meets the old hag, he swears his life to her...
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...A Conjecture on the Wife of Bath's Prologue Author(s): Richard F. Jones Source: The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Oct., 1925), pp. 512-547 Published by: University of Illinois Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27702906 Accessed: 17-08-2015 10:45 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. University of Illinois Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 182.69.107.77 on Mon, 17 Aug 2015 10:45:38 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions A CONJECTURE ON THE WIFE OF BATH'S PROLOGUE of Bath's the Wife When for the first reading Prologue time, I remember my surprise upon reaching line 193 to find continued for several hundred lines, whereas that the Prologue a tale to follow. With I had expected each reading since, I in adjusting my expecta the same difficulty have experienced found. This repeated experience, ...
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...that is sensible enough to substantiate serial marriage. And I believe, I know just the right person to solicit. 5 marriages with no regrets and still having enough caliber to hunt down “the sixth”, Wife of Bath proves to be the appropriate someone to inquire. Wife of Bath’s prologue begins with the launch of torpedoes and missiles aimed at ‘authority’. It’s more like a full scale war; her very first lines are like ‘Super marine spitfire’s’ intercepting ‘Luftwaffe’. The authority here is the pseudo-male favoring society. Wife of bath questions this authority based on her experience, she uses her experience as a tool against the church and the aristocracy prevalent during those days, where it were the men who said what women should be or should not be. She challenges the authority of these powerful men who were part of the clergy, who laid down principles for women, whom they had very little knowledge, and their everyday lives. Wife of bath tries to triumph over this authority; she believes in experience over authority and certainly considers herself as a power on marriage and sex, given her five marriages. She establishes herself as an authority on all matters of marriage. Women, in the time of Chaucer, were cast into very specific roles. In her prologue, the Wife of Bath addresses the general code of conduct and other commonly accepted behaviors of women and dismisses them to justify and rationalize her own life style of being married many times. This Authority works on...
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...The Wife of Bath symbolizes a character of lust and adventure, presenting herself in a sultry “bold” way. “That art the olde daunce” is the best symbolic paraphase to describe her. She is an interesting read and her untraditional actions make for an exciting descriptive analysis. The “Art the Olde Daunce” can be translated fairly easy, the words are cognates to the new english standard, art does mean the skill of something, a branch of what the common definition of art means today. Old derives from Old English “ald” to Middle’s “olde” to the New “Old”. The origin for the word “dance” is uncertain, although french influence in arts is the most likely founder of the word. (dictionary.com, n.d) The prologue hints at many types of suggestive love...
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...In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath presents her bold views throughout the course of her narration. Her prologue provides insight into her real-life experience with marriage, which she seems to view more as a game than as a consecrated relationship. Per the Pardoner’s request, the Wife of Bath shares her stance on marriage through a captivating tale, in which she highlights the idea of gentillesse in her vision of an ideal relationship. However, even though the Wife of Bath’s tale seems to go against the patriarchal society of the Middle Ages, further analysis of the text supports the fact that she views marriage as an opportunity for personal profit and not for equality. Thus, her tale and prologue not only support...
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...Chaucer portrays the Wife as a very unconventional character which becomes more evident throughout the text as she voices her opinions on things such as marriage and sex. ‘’Thoroughly selfish ‘’ indicates that the Wife only cares about herself and is in no way altruistic. It could also be argued that she is ‘unlikeable’’ as she seems to portray her views in an anti-feminist manner due to her lack of support for women as well as her deceitfulness and using her sexuality to manipulate men. However, this could be a result of being in a male dominated society, and despite the negative stereotypes that she embodies she does stand up for herself albeit it is in a contradictory vulgar manner. On the other hand, Giovanni can be considered ‘selfish and unlikeable’ due to his manipulative nature. He manipulates Annabella by lying and trying to justify his incestuous feelings for her. Although, it could be suggested that he is not entirely ‘unlikeable’ because his charm is evident throughout the text and it could indicate that he does love Annabella even though he possesses impure thoughts. The Wife’s manipulative and deceitful nature may portray her as a selfish and an unlikeable character, those characteristics are evident throughout the text. She justifies her autonomous lifestyle by using biblical exegesis, and although she misinterprets it for her own benefit it still portrays her as an intelligent woman which in turn manipulates the audience. For example, she validates her sexual...
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...In “The Wife of Bath”, the King grants the Queen power to do what she sees fit to the knight because he deprived a maiden from her power, so she summoned the knight to discover what women most desire and that is complete sovereignty. In “Federigo’s Falcon”, Monna Giovanna has the power over Federigo because he is completely in love with her and will do anything for her. In both stories, the women use power as an advantage to get what they want, but in the end of “The Wife of Bath”, the women pass the power back to the men and left it back questionable on what women most desire. In “The Wife of Bath”, the women want complete power over their companions, but in the end, it is completely contradicted of what they want by giving the power back...
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...The Wife of Bath is a feminist because she confronts three serious social issues that exemplify the extreme oppression women faced throughout the Middle Ages. Firstly, The Wife of Bath addresses the negativity associated with women and sex. She begins by informing her audience that she is sexually experienced because she has been with five different men. During the Middle Ages it was widely believed that women were not allowed to have sexual relations outside of marriage and if they were convicted of adultery they were to be punished. However, The Wife of Bath defends the amount of times she had been married in order to advocate for being able to have multiple sex partners. By working within this social framework, The Wife of Bath demonstrates that if a woman marries many different men, she can have sex with several partners. As a result, this clever use of sex...
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...In the “Wife of Bath” women are not treated equally as men and are aiming to equalize the gender power. Double standards are a significant aspect of that culture. For instance, women are looked down upon if they marry more than once. The teaching of Christ is mentioned, “That by that same example he taught me. That I should be wedded but once” (lines 12-13). Basically it is morally “right” to only marry once. However, the wife makes an argument that several holy men have married more than once. This is evident when she says, “I know well Abraham was a holy man, and Jacob also, insofar as I know; and each of them had more than two wives” (lines 55-57). She demonstrates that she is practically identical in ethics to men who have likewise had...
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...The Wife of Bath can be described as both an anti-religious and amoral character. The Wife of Bath is anti-religious and this is seen throughout the prologue in which she questions scripture more than once, as well as the fact that she was married five times before going on this pilgrimage and she is currently looking for husband number six. She is also an amoral character since she lacks morality in the way she speaks to the others telling them her story and the way she has acted in her marriages. The Wife of Bath has been married five times, outliving all of her husbands. Since Christ only attended one wedding, at Cana, multiple marriages are frowned upon by the church since they destroy the sanctity of the sacrament of Holy Matrimony....
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