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Analysis of characters in canterbury tale
Analysis of characters in canterbury tale
The Canterbury Tales summary
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The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, which was published in March 1981 by
Bantam Books in New York, New York is a funny piece of work about twenty- nine characters and their stories while on their way to Canterbury. The twenty-nine characters have to tell two stories on their trip to Canterbury. In the Wife of Bath tale, the wife of bath tells of a tale of a young knight, the central character in the story. After he raped a woman, he must roam the countryside in search to the answer to the question “what is it that women most desire?” This is the plot, for he must find the answer in order to live.
The knight only has one year to get to answer this question and then he has to return to
King Arthur’s court and await his sentence.
The setting is in King Arthur’s court when a young man saw a pretty maiden and raped her. The King was going to sentence him to death but the Queen decided to give him one year to answer the question . The story is told from the Wife of Bath’s point of view for she is narrating the story. So the conflict, being that he has to find the answer, is established. The knight’s journey does not go well. Finally on the last day that he has, he comes up to a group of women, as he approaches they disappear and an old woman appears. This part is the climax of the plot because it is when the knight finally knows the answer. The old woman says that she knows the answer but she will only tell it to the
Queen and in return she must do anything that she asks of him. The knight agrees. Finally, while in the presence of the Queen, she tells her that the answer to what all women desire is sovereignty over their husbands. No one disagrees with her answer and so the old woman asks that she be married to the knight. The knight having sworn to do whatever she pleased reluctantly agrees. But this is not the resolution. It happens later on while on their wedding night. The knight is somewhat disgusted and so the old woman goes on to lecture him on the trivial nature of appearances. She tells the knight whether he would prefer to have a woman ugly by day, yet loyal and faithful the rest of the time or to be beautiful and take his chances the rest of the time.
knight, yet he still allows him to become one because he knows how important it is to
Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Wife of Bath's Tale." Canterbury Tales. McDougal Littell Literature British Literature, 2012. Print. 180-192.
In conclusion, the Knight basically go anything he could’ve ever wanted in life. He did crack the code of women, but not on his own although it does make him more wise then most men which still don’t quite get it to this day. The Knight should have been sentenced to death in the very beginning and no, in fact he did not get the punishment he deserved his crime was a very awful one.
It is first important to understand the background of both The Wife of Bath and Margery Kempe’s stories. The Wife of Bath was a character created by Geoffrey Chaucer who is radically different from the nonfictional character of Margery Kempe. The Wife of Bat...
The Wife of Bath’s Tale was written in the 1380s as part of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer is often credited as the Father of English Literature . While it is commendable that he set people on the path of developing English as we see it today, it doesn't automatically mean his works are the best. As a reader I criticise works based on diction, how everything connects together, and multiple lessons that connect to the story. The story was over all an exhausting read and did not give me a good enough ending for it all to be worthwhile.
... maiden, the knight is turned into the hero of the tale, with the reader hoping for a happy ending for him. "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" can be seen as both a legend of women's empowerment as well as a reminder of the struggles women encountered daily.
Leicester, Jr., H. Marshall. "Of a fire in the dark: Public and Private Feminism in the Wife of Bath's Tale." Women's Studies 11.1-2 (1985): 157-78.
The tale starts off as a knight riding into town on a horse where he spots a young maiden. After he approaches the maiden, he rapes her and leaves her
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Wife of Bath Tale.” The Canterbury Tales. Trans. R.M. Lumiansky. NY: Bantam, 2006. 184-192. Print.
Eisner, Sigmund. A Tale of Wonder: a Source Study of the Wife of Bath’s Tale. New York: B. Franklin, 1969.
In most cases today rape gets you sentenced to prison and sometimes death. Back in Chaucer’s day, in the text The Wife of Bath’s Tale, Chaucer wrote about a knight in the text The Wife of Bath’s Tale. This knight was arrested for his deed of raping a woman. His punishment is not as suffice as it would be in the modern world. The life of the knight was spared because of his beauty that the Queen had seen. Instead, the Queen insisted that the knight go on a trip; a trip that would last a year and a day. When the knight’s time was up, he would return to the Queen and explain what she had asked him before he left on his journey. The question that was asked was, “’yet you shall live if you can answer me: what is the thing that women most desire?’” says the queen ([Prentice Hall Literature] page 140 lines 50-51).As for the knight, what final choice does the old woman offer the knight? In what way does his response show that he has finally learned his lesson about the nature of women? And finally, Has the knight experienced sufficient punishment and redemption for his crime.
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.
Huppé, Bernard F. "Rape and Woman's Sovereignty in the Wife of Bath's Tale." Modern Language Notes 63.6 (1948): 378-81. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Each sister promises the king something if he marries her. The older two promise him physical gratification: a cake that will feed him and his army and a carpet that will seat him and all his soldiers. The inclusion of his army is an appeal to the traditionally male value of force and power. The youngest sister promises him emotional satisfaction: twins, a boy and a girl. Her approach is more typically female, since it appeals to his personal feelings and includes a daughter in the bargain.
The Wife’s Bath Prologue was written by Jeffery Chaucer. This story grabs your attention immediately. The wife of Bath is a woman who seems to be very experienced in love and sex. She has been married five different times and she’s also had affairs. She is described as having a gap between her teeth which back then that was attractive. The Wife of Bath is on a mission to find her sixth and hopefully final husband.