The Power Of Women In The Wife Of Bath's Tale
analytical Essay
1043 words
The Power of the Woman The Canterbury Tales by Gregory Chaucer are set around the time of Medieval England. Specifically, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” takes place during King Arthur’s rule in the 600s. In, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” Gregory Chaucer uses satire as a form of humor to point out the underlying power that women have in Medieval England. As the knight struggles to find out what women desire most, he stumbles upon this old woman known as Crone. After the knight grants his freedom he must answer to the old woman and do whatever she wants, thus leading her to take control over his life. 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 …show more content…
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how gregory chaucer uses satire as a form of humor to point out the underlying power that women have in medieval england.
- Narrates how king arthur decides to sentence a knight to death, but the queen gives the knight an alternative task in the hope of sparing his life.
- Analyzes how the knight sees the ferry woman (also known as crone) in order to have someone to confide about the challenges he is facing while finding the answer to the queen’s question.
- Analyzes how the knight makes comments about the age of his elderly wife and her appearance. the old woman can either be her actual age or she can change herself into a young woman.
- Analyzes how the ferry woman symbolizes the power and control because she utilizes her brain and appearance to test the knight to see how he reacts to her.
- Analyzes how chaucer uses satire to show that the old woman from "the wife of bath's tale" embodies the power of women in medieval england.
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
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- Analyzes how alisoun's insecurities stifle her from realizing that there are other ways for her to obtain what she wants.
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- Analyzes how the wife of bath upholds the misogynistic ideas of chaucer's time because she is a controlling, manipulative, know-it-all woman. she is opinionated, dominates, and diabolical.
- Analyzes how the wife of bath upholds the misogynistic image of women for one of many reasons: she is controlling. she believes that experience is the biggest factor to gaining control over men.
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- Analyzes how the wife of bath depicts a solid image of her feelings toward men, including power, femininity, and the importance of appearance.
- Analyzes how the knight holds power over the woman in which he raped and presents himself in front of a court full of powerful women. the queen and her ladies decide to give him one year to find the answer to her question.
- Narrates how the knight decides to ask the ugly hag for help after almost a year of searching for an answer to his wife's request of payment.
- Analyzes how the knight gives up his power to solve the queen's riddle, the hag, and the ugly hag for the rest of his life. the story must end in a happy way to please the audience
- Analyzes how the wife of bath does a great job of bringing the role of femininity into play without her interjections.
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- Analyzes how the wife of bath packs a great deal of information into her prologue and tale. the themes of appearance and femininity follow under the main section of power.
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In this essay, the author
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- Narrates the white oak society's "women in the 15th century."
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- Analyzes how chaucer casts a realistic eye on the men and women of his day and shouldn't be considered anti-feminist. he notices their weaknesses and motivation in their behavior.
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- Analyzes how chaucer's canterbury tales affects cultural views of the monk’s tale because the story was taking place between 1342 and 1400 when their views on society were different from present day.
- Analyzes how the church played a major role in england during the period of 1342 and 1400.
- Analyzes how the monk portrays fortune as a woman who betrays men who trust them. hercules' parable is another example of fortune being portrayed as woman.
- Opines that the monk only talked about men who had great power because women at the time were the ones to bring men to their misery.
- Explains that they had little chance to own property unless they were a widow or had no brothers in order to inherit property.
- Explains how the time period of the book affects cultural views because times were different and there was corruption which affected the way people and the money they had.
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