In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, intertextuality represents specific aspects of the character’s ideals and personalities, and Chaucer uses it to meet his ends by calling attention to the continual misinterpretation of words. In the Wife of Bath’s Prologue, biblical excerpts in the “Book of Wikked Wyves” are misrepresented by both the compiler of the text and the clerk, Jenkyn, current husband of the Wife of Bath. The compiler of the book believed that what he wrote was true, based on pieces of text he picked through to find those that comply with the view he already had of women. The Wife of Bath combats the “Book of Wikked Wyves,” as well as every reading therein, with her question of “Who peynted the leoun, tel me who?” arguing that if women …show more content…
All said here is true to what the Bible says, because Delilah was a “harlot” working with Samson’s enemies. However, she is not named in the summary, revealing that she did not have much agency, and the story is not finished in the compiler’s excerpt. Samson defeats the Philistines, his enemies, because of humility gained from becoming blind, weak, and bullied. He asks God to grant him the strength to destroy his enemies and does so, killing himself in the process (Judges 16). By dying for his God, he becomes a martyr and an example of what inward strength and faith can do. Delilah’s betrayal is the reason for his initial humiliation and pain, yes, but she is also used as a pawn to do the works of men and of God. From the compiler’s point of view, by not including the rest of the story, he is able to isolate the betrayal to men that started with Eve in all women. The question “Who peynted the leoun” is asked again in this context, and the point of view endures to be biased against