Mixed Feminine Message in Wife of Bath's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales presents a multitude of learned lessons that caters to the imperfections of human nature. At first glance, the Wife of Bath 's tale appears to be apologetic towards a rapist knight, who manages to escape death through redemption and marries a beautiful woman by the end of the tale. However, it is notable that each tale in the Canterbury Tales reveals itself to be an extension of the particular character who is telling it. The Wife of Bath 's tale is a reflection of herself because she clearly relays information in the tale that mirrors her desires of having sovereignty over men, the societal standards of her time, along with her opinions on the legitimacy of interpersonal judgment. My initial judgement of the knight in the Wife of Bath’s Tale was that he is a violent rapist that did not deserve to have mercy placed upon him for his crime.

However, later, in her "Tale" the Wife of Bath presents another opinion - women wish to have emotional power over their husbands as well. The fact that the hag is able to decide for herself whether to turn into a beautiful wife or to remain in her present state, manifests her power over the husband. It is up to her whether to make the knight the happiest men on earth or to make him miserable for as long as she lives:

Chaucer satirizes the knight’s profession as often corrupt and unchivalrous through the knight’s disgrace towards the old woman, although she saved his life by giving him important information. Additionally, the knight’s raping of the young woman also contrasts the value of respect of women through his violation and unconsented taking of her virginity. The knight acts out of lust, desire, and the the want to feel powerful, enacting superiority over the young woman by having unwarranted sex with her. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer attacks corruption in society and praises admirableness in those that are honest. The hypocrisy and sinful nature of the Wife of Bath’s Tale show a great distinction from the righteous nature of the Franklin’s Tale.

147-160) In lines 147-148, she curses this "detested" day on which her lock was "sn... ... middle of paper ... ...the helplessness of a beautiful woman like her in a society of men like the Baron. At times we are given the impression that the mistake was indeed hers when Belinda cites examples of things she could have done and should have done to prevent the rape of her lock. Such a reaction from Belinda reinforces the notion of the rape serving as a metaphor for a sexual rape. The reaction of many women in our time to sexual rape is almost exactly like Belinda's reaction to the rape of her lock. However, it becomes clear that Belinda is only over exaggerating after she goes on and on speaking of radical changes that would have prevented her loss.

This reciprocally form of love is labeled ‘authentic love’. Nonetheless De Beauvoir mentions that women are “ trapped in the feminine universe” (p. 708) where the women accept traditional destinies of getting an education, married, and having children. On the other hand, the man can never be “a man in love” as De Beauvoir puts it. Although it may seem difficult to achieve, authentic love is possible. In this paper, I will use De Beauvoir’s arguments to further expand on what authentic love.

Traditional women are normally shown as puppets and sex slaves for the m... ... middle of paper ... ...because she seeks revenge and murders a mobster with masculine “toys”. Nevertheless, she uses her fame to help people realize abusive relationships; she help these people by also saying there is going to be a new beginning because she was in the same situation. She attacks sexist by using her song “Pokerface”, to tell women that they are allowed to do whatever men do without shame. Additional, females are better at male jobs then men are. I consider Gaga to be a feminist because in her videos, she allows male attributes played by females.

Women were raped because of their beauty and how weak they were in terms of rights. As a result, women would just experience rape since it was their way of life so much so that they even believed that the more often you were raped, the more virtuous you are. When Voltaire describes how women were raped, he uses a humorous and offensive tone because Voltaire wants to exaggerate this topic about rape. He expands on how women were raped by including every

Because of gender, women are objectified, sexualized, and therefore blamed for the crimes committed against them by men. While men are lightly punished and sometimes even awarded for such an atrocity, the voices of women are drowned as they openly triumph. In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, Chaucer hoped to give voice to silent oppressed, stating that their one, true desire is that of “‘the self-same sovereignty / Over her husband as over her lover, / And master him; he must not be above her (Chaucer,

They could either marry well or they could become the mistress of a powerful man or both. Cunegonde becomes the mistress of the Grand Inquisitor, a Bulgar captain, and the... ... middle of paper ... ...ir first encounter and believes that she had no choice but to accept the governor’s offer. She states, “An honorable woman may be raped once, but it only makes her virtue stronger.” (24) For her part she does love Candide but it is a shallow love, more akin to lust. She wants to be faithful to Candide, but only if it will support the lifestyle that she is accustomed to. The women of Voltaire’s Candide emphasize the exploitation of females in the 1800s.

Here is a fine example on how Shahrazed uses her beauty to attract the King but also make a huge sacrifice for her people. What bravery a women must have to sleep with a murderer every night, you know she isn’t sexually attracted to him. As this process continues she eventually convinces the K... ... middle of paper ... ...hing to cause them to be flawed people. Even though both men have character flaws they different in degrees. Toyo-o is a young man who is a leech to his family.