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Gender stereotypes in literature a level essays
Character analysis of wife of bath
Gender stereotypes in literature a level essays
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Why would a woman hit her husband backwards into a fire over simple book? Neither the book nor the answer is simple. The Wife of Bath is at the funeral of her fourth husband (following his suspicious death), and sees a young clerk named Jankyn whom she cannot take her eyes off of. They soon marry and The Wife quickly finds out that he loves to read out of a book that bashes and criticizes women by using religious figures, kings, philosophers, and other religious figures. The Wife reaches a breaking point where she can no longer take this hate on her gender and assaults her husband. When reading The Wife of Bath’s tale, one encounters a knight in search of wisdom pertaining to what is that every woman wants. He comes across an old woman who tells him that “women desire to have dominion / over their husbands as well as their lovers, / and to be above them in mastery” …show more content…
In short, the knight owes the ugly old woman his life and she requests that he marry her. Naturally he supplicates and pleads something along the lines of: Please take anything you want from me! Money? Land? Choose anything but this! When given the choice of having an old, ugly, faithful, and pleasing wife, or a young, fair, but unfaithful wife, he says dejectedly, “My lady and my love, and wife so dear, / I put myself under you wise control” (239). The ugly old woman acknowledges her mastery over the young nobleman and that is all she needs to hear since she immediately grants him the best of both worlds. This is a direct correlation back to The Wife of Bath’s story regarding her fifth husband, Jankyn. After he is pushed into the fire, he get back up and strikes The Wife so hard that she collapses to the ground. Little does he know that she is playing dead. Jankyn laments and says he still loves her and wants her to stay wit him. By says this he hands over all superiority and and sovereignty. Jankyn even states, “My own true wife / so as you wish the rest of
Woman in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” compared to the women in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows a progress or a power shift between men and women. When the knight sees the old lady and asks her for her help, she’s the only one who has that power to help save him. Now in terms of power, the old lady and the Wife differ in how they show their power. For example, The Wife in the prologue, she talks about her having five husbands and is looking for the sixth one and how her husband who “shal be bothe my dettour and my thral / And have his tribulacion withal / Upon his flesh whil that I am his wif.” (shall be both my debtor and my slave / And bear his tribulation to the grave / Upon his flesh, as long as I’m his wife) (The Wife of Bath’s Prologue 161-163) and even how she “have the
It is up to her whether to make the knight the happiest man on earth or to make him miserable for as long as she lives.
In the story of Dame Ragnell and "The Wife of Bath's Tale," the men in question are in a very serious predicament. The knight in "The Wife of Bath's Tale" gets into his predicament by raping a young maiden. In "Dame Ragnell," King Arthur is accused of giving Sir Gawain land that belongs to someone else, Gromer Somer Joure. Their crimes are completely different, yet they still warrant similar punishment. Although the reason that each character is in his situation is a glaring difference between the two stories, in both cases the character's lives are at stake because of something they have done. In order to be saved from death they must answer a question: "To shewe me at thy coming whate wemen love best in feld and town." (Ragnell 91-92) This is what King Arthur is asked by Gromer Somer Joure in the story of Dame Ragnell. In "The Wife of Bath's Tale," we can see the question is worded differently. The Queen says to the knight: "I graunte thee lif if thou canst tellen me what thing it is that wommen most desiren." (Bath 910-911) Although there is a slight difference in the wording of the question in each tale, each still has the same idea: What is it that women want the most? In both stories the main characters, the knight, in "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and King Arthur in, the story of Dame Ragnell, search out the answer to this question.
She is trying to show that although her husband might think that he has complete control over the affairs of the woman, in actuality she is depicting civil disobedience towards his actions. On the other end of the spectrum, “them” could be referring to the
Chaucer challenges some of the men in the story by putting them in a position where they are not in control. For instance, when the knight has to answer to the king after raping the maiden the king wants to sentence him to death, however his wife pleads her husband to have leniency with the knight, thus leading her to take control over the situation. Also, when after the knight marries the crone, she asks him the type of wife he prefers to have his responds by allowing her to control the outcome of events. By the men letting the women take control in this story, they are surrendering their own power and are handing it over to their wives. This exemplifies an effective use of satire because in Medieval England, women were not the ideal person to have control or power whatsoever. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” points out that although women are not originally in a high place of power, they are capable of using their physical appearances to control their husbands both a sexual and emotion way. Over all “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” is a well thought out tale that is the perfect depiction of how women in Medieval England are not usually in a high position of power but can still have the ability to control the lives of not only themselves but their husbands as
Next, is what can be seen as the other extreme of the spectrum of marriage. That is the Wife of Bath's Tale. This tale favors the argument that the wife should have complete control in the marriage. An interesting thing about the Wife of Bath's tale is that her arguments, in the prologue, for having control...
Joe realizes that his wife Janie is very beautiful and he becomes jealous of other men lusting after her. Because of this, Joe restricts Janie by forcing her to always tend the store and wear a head rag to hide her beautiful hair. Joe wants complete control of Janie and sometimes he beats her when she does not obey him.
The Wife of Bath, therefore, can be seen as a woman who has taken her understanding of the teachings of the Bible, and held fast to certain notions that can help her succeed as a common person in a period where social position and wealth are usually a factor of birth, not personal effort. The notions of the right and freedom to make decisions, especially those regarding marriage and personal actions, allow her to travel, to have some nice possessions, and to become a strong, confident woman against the odds. Although she isn’t perfect, she has the desire, the underlying humility, and the understanding of how to be a better person—if only she had made that decision.
... the tale truly mirrors the Wife’s own life the knight better watch his back of he to will be dead soon.
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is written in an entertaining and adventurous spirit, but serves a higher purpose by illustrating the century’s view of courtly love. Hundreds, if not thousands, of other pieces of literature written in the same century prevail to commemorate the coupling of breathtaking princesses with lionhearted knights after going through unimaginable adventures, but only a slight few examine the viability of such courtly love and the related dilemmas that always succeed. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that women desire most their husband’s love, Overall, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that the meaning of true love does not stay consistent, whether between singular or separate communities and remains timeless as the depictions of love from this 14th century tale still hold true today.
The knight tells the woman his true feelings about her. According to Arthurian” “She is the most hideous woman he has ever seen”. Furthermore, it is unusual for a young man to marry an old women. Women have a lot of power in their appearance because a woman uses her appearance to seduce and control men. The woman inner desire in this time period is to have power over there husband. However during this time period Christians believe that a man and women should treat each other equally. According to 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body”. Woman still felt look down upon compared to men because there duties are to stay at home cook and
“where would you be if I didn’t cook, if my fry bread didn’t fill your stomachs every damn night?”” (77). Instead of blatantly having the husband and wife express their anger towards each other, Alexie reveals complex parts of the marriage in this passage – the husband and son often make fun of the wife, while the wife seems to be the person that supports the whole family from the ground up. Later in the story, Alexie then illustrates the wife’s decision: “She walked into the house, didn’t say a word to her stunned husband and son, and pulled that heaviest of beaded dresses over her head. Her knees buckled and she almost fell from the weight; then she did fall… She stood, weakly.
“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 order to have a happy marriage; however, her life experience and the story she shared should tell her otherwise.
Olson, Glending. "The Marital Dilemma In The Wife Of Bath's Tale: An Unnoticed Analogue And Its Chaucerian Court Context."English Language Notes 33.(1995): 1-7. Humanities Source. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
In "The Wife Of Bath’s Tale", women most desire sovereignty over men in relationships. In other words, the power to have dominance over men is the one thing women most desire. I agree with the ideas that in relationship women wish to be dominant over the opposite sex. The only way such power is earned or give is when the man is in a situation where the woman must bail him out of trouble.