Character Analysis of The Wife of Bath of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is Geoffrey Chaucer's greatest and most memorable work. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses "a fictitious pilgrimage [to Canterbury] as a framing device for a number of stories" (Norton 79). In "The General Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer describes in detail the pilgrims he meets in the inn on their way to Canterbury. Chaucer is the author, but also a character and the narrator, and acts like a reporter to provide a detailed description of the pilgrims. Through his description, the reader is able to paint a picture of each of the characters. In "The General Prologue," he describes each character by giving a detailed description of the character's appearance, clothing, social status, beliefs, and other relevant details. However, Chaucer never condemns his characters: "What uniquely distinguishes Chaucer's prologue from conventional estates of satire, however, is the suppression in all but a few instances of overt moral judgement. . . . It is up to the reader to draw up the moral indictment from the evidence presented with such artlessness even while falling in with the easygoing mood of 'felaweship' that pervades Chaucer's prologue to the pilgrimage" (Norton 80-81). Chaucer is thus able to create a tension between the ideal and the real. He builds up the reader's expectations and then shatters them. Although The Canterbury Tales was probably written in the late fourteenth century, many of the pilgrims of The Canterbury Tales seem real and true to life even today. One of the most memorable pilgrims of The Canterbury Tales, as well as one of the most memorable women in literature, is the Wife of Bath. The "lusty and domineering"...
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...urteenth century, her ideas, beliefs, and behavior are more like a woman of the twentieth century or possibly even the twenty-first century. She is truly a woman ahead of her time.
Works Cited
Abrams, M. H. et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 1. Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, & Co. 1993. 76-144.
Benson. Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales. February 1997. October 24, 1998. Online. Internet. Available http: icg.harvard.edu/~eng115b/
Bobr, Janet. Welcome to Camelot. 1998. October 24, 1998. Online. Internet. Available http: www.csis.pace.edu/grendel/prjs3f/arthur1.htm
Canterbury Tales. 1998. November 30, 1998. Online. Internet. Available http: userzweb.lightspeed.net/~cheezit/pilgrims/index.html
Jokinen, Anniina. Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1343-1400). July 1996. October 24, 1998. Online. Internet. Available http: www.luminarium.org/medlit/chaucer.htm
Boardman, Phillip C. "Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400)." Enduring Legacies: Ancient and Medieval Cultures. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson Custom Pub., 2000. 430-54. Print.
Perhaps one of the most famous paintings Leonardo da Vinci painted is the Mona Lisa in which he painted in 1503. Many experts believe the portrait is of a very wealthy women who lived in Florence whose
This painting represents the highest artistic achievement of Da Vinci, succeeded in shaping an urban middle-class lady's image in the rising period of capitalism. Her posture in the painting is elegant with subtle smile; mysterious background shows deep boundless scene, incisively and vividly playing the painter’s brushwork of that unique misty "aerial perspective". The painter sought to achieve a clever union between rich character's inner feelings and her beautiful appearance, emphatically grasping accurate and implicative dialectical relationship in particular for feeling-expressing key parts like eyes and mouth in human face in the corner of his lips etc. The realm of romantic charm covered Mona Lisa's enchanting smile with a kind of mystery dream which is called "mysterious smile" by many art historians.
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer are a collection of Middle English short stories written about a group of pilgrims telling tales as they journey to the shrine of St Thomas Becket. In this collection of tales, Chaucer introduces a slew of interesting characters representing all walks of life who present intriguing stories of their lives. The character of Chaucer serves as our guide throughout this story. Chaucer’s narration is unique in that we see him both as someone who could be there in the tavern with the group but at other times, Chaucer is a narrator who seems to know far more than he should. With this type of narration, we gain different perspectives on the pilgrims and
... always managed to be creative and experiment with his artwork. Because Leonardo da Vinci took a risk by having one of the first few paintings with an imaginary background opened new doors for artists. Because of his passion for studying the natural world Leonardo achieved perfect harmony between nature and humanity. "The background may be a representation of the universe, with mountains, plains and rivers. Or possibly it is both reality and the world of dream. One could suppose that the landscape doesn't exist, that it is the young woman's own dream world". And it is thought that she smiles because she is dreaming ("Cuzin" from Leonardo's masterful techniques). The Mona Lisa encouraged others to be free and make more compositional art, instead of what art was expected to be, which was a copy of reality. It changed art and the way artists looked at art forever.
Beidler, Peter G. "Chaucer's Tales" Chaucer Review Vol: 34, Issue: 4. April 01, 2000. 388-397
Tatlock, John S.P., and Arthur G. Kennedy. A Concordance to the Complete Work of Geoffrey Chaucer. Gloucester: Peter Smith, 1963.
Abrams, M.H., et al. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. 2 Vols. New York: Norton, 1993.
Bruce Lee is the icon of Martial Arts. He has inspired many modern day Martial Arts.Bruce is known for inspiring famous MMA/UFC fighters to start learning Martial arts after seeing one of his movies or learning about his lagce. Bruce Lee is thought to be the greatest fighter ever who ever. His legend still lives on though his fans and his children.
Mandell, Jerome. Geoffrey Chaucer : building the fragments of the Canterbury tales. N.J. : Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1992.
Howard, Donald R. Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1987.
Bruce Lee was influential in many ways, as a martial arts instructor, philosopher, father and many more things. Bruce Lee was born November 27, 1940 and as a young child he began his acting career, he starred in countless movies and even worked on tv shows. At a young age he studied in martial arts in Hong Kong then returned to the U.S where he became the man admired by many even today.
Pro-choice and pro-life advocates which is people in support, or not in support of abortions, have had contentious disputes throughout America. An Abortion is often described as a premeditated killing of a human being often performed during the first trimesters of pregnancy. The killing of any human being is unlawful yet abortion laws grant women the opportunity to kill a child with no questions asked. Some women believe that it is their right to be able to decide whether they want to abort their child, however they don’t understand the horrible effects of their decision. Abortion may be the key to ending someone’s life, and surly will be the same key that causes harm to the female body. Many people say that Abortions should not be considered lawful considering the fact that it increase a women’s chances of having certain cancers and diseases, will cause more teenagers to be involved in sexual activity, and simply because abortion is a source murder.
Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1993.
The Mona Lisa could mean so many things and is surrounded by speculation, which is why she is famous and why she is valued art. Not only has the reason why the Mona Lisa is valued changed over time but, the Mona Lisa herself changed dramatically over the three years of her conception. Change and the ability to change -- the ability to be perceived differently at different times enables a piece of artwork to be timeless. Intention is a valuable part of art work; not only the artist intention but, the observers intention when they are observing the art