Monetary Values In The Wife Of Bath

Within both the poems there is a mutual understanding of monetary value displayed within females. It is clear that the character of the Wife considers sex and money to parallel each other in her mind. Throughout her prologue, the wife constantly affirms to the idea of a ‘dette’ that her husband must pay her if he wishes to have sexual pleasure (eve and morwe). The Wife even claims that her husband cannot ‘be maister of my body and of my good’ inferring that he cannot have control of both her money and her body. This is proof of how much she is considered a revolutionist among literary critics because she rebukes the medieval portrait placed upon women. It was the teachings of submission that were directed towards women in their marriage towards

Therefore, both poems uphold the stereotypical view of women and men, and how men are viewed as being the bread-winners of the family, but are financially limited due to their marriages, causing women to be viewed in a misogynistic and materialistic manner.

Furthermore, both poets display men and women to be naturally lustful and view marriage as a way to perform lusts displayed in boths sexes. The Wife of Bath’s lust is emphasised greatly by Chaucer as she takes on the anti feminist views during Chaucer’s time. For example, The Wife’s lustful nature is often described as being a ‘fyr’ because her desire is so strong that it burns it reflects the nature of a fire. However, during this time, religious teachings was extremely prominent in the lives of many Medieval citizens. A prominent figure in these teachings was Saint Jerome who argued the importance of celibacy and marriage being a necessary evil. Jerome viewed women’s sexuality as being a horror and constantly painted pictures depicting the worthlessness

In Gay’s, ‘To a Lady’ Gay describes that to have a wife is like each day as having its ‘unguarded hour’ which parallels with Chaucer’s use of metaphorical language of a ‘castle wall’ being under siege. Both poems affirm the misogynistic idea that women cannot remain ‘chaste’ and always in ‘danger of undoing’. When we put these views in historical context it would not come to shock for a 12th century audience (Canterbury Tales) or a 14th century audience (To a Lady) to be stunned by both these pieces of literature, rather they would be able to relate towards them. It contributes to the masculine ideas of men being ‘in battle’ within marriage because it was the male’s rational behaviour and position to keep control of their wives due to women being naturally sinful and manipulating. The Wife of Bath is a clear emblem of believing that both genders are in battle with each other when it comes to marriage. She rejects religious teachings that women should submit to men, but rather, ‘that men shall yielde to his wyf his dette’ and this ‘dette’ is that she will use sex to dominate her husbands as he must pay the marriage ‘dette’ in bed. This is clear evidence of the Wife being a figure of revolutionary ideas by rejecting the idea of submission, however, an alternative interpretation is that the character of the wife of actually succumbs to