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chaucer view on marriage canterbury tales
the wife of bath's prologue the wife's main point
critical note on the wife of bath's prologue
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The Wife of Bath by Geoffrey Chaucer
"Sex is natural, sex is good. Not everybody does it, but everybody should. "
--George Michael
From Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath is most creatively portrayed and certainly most controversial. Alison, as she is called, is a very outspoken woman with beliefs contrary to those of her time, when a woman had little say. In her prologue, the Wife of Bath chastises those who look down on her because of her beliefs, and uses various biblical and religious references to support her opinions on chastity, sex, and marriage.
The first topic on which she "preach[es] nobly" is the worth of virginity. Alison says that she has immense respect for girls that can remain chaste, but does not feel that that they are any better than wives, "Let virgins be white bread of pure wheat seed/ Barley bread we wives are called, and yet I read/ In Mark . . .that Christ with barley bread cheered many a man." She states that the worth of a woman does change after she has lost her virginity. Virginity is not divine mandate, "The Apostle, when he speaks of maidenhood/ Lays down no law. This I have understood . . . Men may advise women to abstain/ From marriage, but mere counsils aren't commands/ He left it to our judgment where it stands." Women are not to leave it for god or man to decide; a woman must decide for herself what it is that she wants. Her point is that each person has a purpose in life and as long as they serve that purpose, it matters not how "chaste" she is.
She not only defends the wives of her time, but also expounds on the benefits of marriage, namely sex. She, as a woman, enjoys sex, "In wifehood I will use my instrument/ As freely by my Maker it was sent." And why not use something one enjoys to get the things one wants? In her five marriages, the Wife of Bath uses sex to gain sovereignty; she uses sex to control her husbands, "I have the power, during all my life/ Over his very body and not he." Alison gets titles, deeds to lands, and her husband's money and he . . . gets laid (what else does a man want?). She maintains her opinion of sex by explaining that procreation is ordained by God, " .
The image of the woman in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue is depicted by Chaucer to be “barley wheat” in a town and civilization lusting for whole white wheat or virginity (Chaucer 1711). The woman has married many men and in doing so forgotten the true value of the Christian faith and now believes worldly influence can overpower the scriptures of the Bible, “can you show in plain words that Almighty God forbade us marriage? Or where did he command virginity?” (Chaucer 1709). Jackie Shead analyzes the prologue and states, “it begins by manipulating authoritative texts--a pre-emptive strike to justify the Wife's marital history and her single-minded pursuit of self-gratification” (Shead). The possibility of the Wife of B...
Wife of Bath. Her character is noted to be strong and bold and we learn
Regularly characterized as monsters, women were ridiculed for being sexually unappeasable, lustful, and shrewish, and they were regarded with condescension by the church authorities. Similarly, people in the medieval era regarded multiple marriages as highly questionable, and it is for this reason that the Wife of Bath carefully examines the words of God as revealed in scripture (revealing her to be more than a simple-minded woman: a knowledge of religious texts proves she is definitely educated and well-read). She confesses that nowhere can she find a stricture against her having more than one marriage, and her five husbands are therefore her choice and hers only. “He seith to be wedded is no synne:/ Bet is to be wedded than to brynne”, she remarks humorously, drawing on the fact that by God’s permission, finding a partner through marriage is a pastime with little consequences, for it is better than engaging in sin and burning for it (50-53. 301). This begins her analysis of the bible and the often “sinful” breakdown of a sexual relationship between man and woman, and introduces her repetitive idea of the
The audience can clearly see that she does not take well to sexual abuse and mistreatment of women by first condemning the rapist to death by the king. The wife further develops the illustration of her morals by allowing the rapist to in order to learn a lesson. Ironically, as punishment for rape, the queen proposes, “Yet you shall live if you can answer me: What is the thing that women most desire? Beware the axe and say as I require.” The Wife of Bath sends him on a mission of repentance, to change the knight’s ways which shows she wants him to understand. The Wife of Bath’s Super ego can be shown in the lessons of gentility, humility, and poverty that she illustrates in the Old Lady teaching the Knight during the course of their marriage. The Old lady says things like, “…arrogance is hardly worth a hen…” and “…No shame in poverty if the heart is gay…” which directly round-up the clear beliefs of the Wife of Bath disguised as the Old
Alison is described as young and wild. She is like an animal: " Thereto she koude skippe and make game/ As any kyde or calf folwynge his dame" (I. 3259-60). We know that she would be willing to go along with any idea as long as it is "fun". We can see her childish immaturity in the scenes where she lets Absalom "kiss" her. We do not learn the details of her marriage such as her feeling toward John, her husband. We simply know that it is a mis-matched marriage with a large age gap between them.
... The Miller portrays Alison as a "wild and young" (205) woman throughout the entire tale, making it clear that she does not respect the relationship with her husband at all. It can also suggest that she is not an angel or the “good wife” that she likes to pretend to be. It is obvious that Alison likes to use her beauty and body in ways to make it easier to obtain the things that she desire just like The Wife of Bath indirectly hints in her tale.
The main character, Alison, or the wife of Bath, is representative of most of the feminist ideals in the work. She is strong, independent, and to be respected as a woman of great courage. Alison has suffered a great deal in her lifetime, indicative of life for women at this time. She has survived five husbands; some of whom beat her, others were unfaithful. She was married off at an early age of twelve and from then on knew what marriage was about: money. "Marriage is the key to survival, and that is what Alisoun seeks and finds" (Carruthers 214), argues Mary Carruthers, justifying Alison's five marriages. Alison equates money with power. With this power comes respect and honor.
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a story about a widow who took a pilgrimage to the town of Canterbury with an array of dynamic characters whose diverse backgrounds allowed them to share their stories with one another to make the long journey more interesting. The widow named Alisoun in the “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” told the tale of her experiences with her five past husbands and a story about a knight and a witch. She truly believed that for a woman to have a happy life she would need to gain dominion over a man; however one could assume this was programmed into her by her influential mother and her own religious doctrines. Accordingly, Alisoun argued that the woman must control everything in order to have a happy marriage; however, her life experience and the story she shared should tell her otherwise.
On the contrary, Alison’s husband loved her more than his own life, although he felt foolish for marrying her since she was so young and skittish. This, in turn, led him to keep a close watch on her whenever possible. The Miller’s main point in his story is that if a man obtains what he wants from God or from his wife, he won’t ask questions or become jealous.
The Wife of Bath is a complex character-she is different from the way she represents herself. Maybe not even what she herself thinks she is. On the surface, it seems as though she is a feminist, defending the rights and power of women over men. She also describes how she dominates her husband, playing on a fear that was common to men. From a point of view of a man during that time period, she seemed to illustrate all of the wrongs that men found in women. Such as a weak parody of what men, then saw as feminists. The Wife of Bath constantly emphasizes the negative implications of women throughout the ages. She describes women as greedy, controlling, and dishonest.
... allows the present day reader to gain insight into commonly held beliefs regarding women during the 14th century. By allowing Alison to have a sense of humor and joke about aspects of her marriage, Chaucer was able to make numerous points regarding women that would not have been acknowledged had a female author created them. By making Alison a laughable character, Chaucer was able to make points about women such as the unfairness of double standards, the acknowledgement of female desire, and the reality of women marrying well to improve their economic situations. Chaucer also provides us with detailed examples of commonly held stereotypes regarding women that are still relevant approximately seven centuries later.
In The Wife of Bath Prologue, Dame Alison discusses how a successful relationship between a man and woman is one where the woman is in control. She uses her experiences to defend her views. A woman who has been married five times, Alison clearly endorses herself as being a woman of sexual desires, and in doing this she also makes a defense for women like herself. She disputes the notion that marriage is inferior to chastity by giving examples from the Bible. She cites King Solomon who had numerous wives and was not condemned for his behavior so why should she. She also quotes St. Paul’s statement that it is better to have passion while married, “It’s no sin to be married, he said, / For if you’re burning, better to be wed” (50-51). She does not throw out virginity, but rather argues, “A woman may be counseled to be pure, / But to counsel and commandment aren’...
One of the most interesting and widely interpreted characters in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is the Wife of Bath. She has had five different husbands and openly admits to marrying the majority of them for their money. The wife appears to be more outspoken and independent than most women of medieval times, and has therefore been thought to symbolize the cause of feminism; some even refer to her as the first actual feminist character in literature. Readers and scholars probably argue in favor of this idea because in The Canterbury Tales, she uniquely gives her own insight and opinions on how relations between men and women should be carried out. Also, the meaning of her tale is that virtually all women want to be granted control over themselves and their relationship with their husbands, which seems to convince people that the Wife of Bath should be viewed as some sort of revolutionary feminist of her time. This idea, however, is incorrect. The truth is that the Wife of Bath, or Alisoun, merely confirms negative stereotypes of women; she is deceitful, promiscuous, and clandestine. She does very little that is actually empowering or revolutionary for women, but instead tries to empower herself by using her body to gain control over her various husbands. The Wife of Bath is insecure, cynical towards men in general, and ultimately, a confirmation of misogynistic stereotypes of women.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is an important part of his most famed work, The Canterbury Tales. One of the most respected highly analyzed of all of the tales, this particular one is important both for its character development and its prevailing themes. It seamlessly integrates ideas on society at that time with strong literary development. This work stands the test of time both because of its literary qualities and because of what it can teach us about the role of women in late Medieval society.
The character of the Wife of Bath in Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Prologue is a strong woman who knows what she wants from life. She is ahead of her time, seeing that women who portrayed themselves the way she does were not necessarily looked positively upon. In this sense, I believe that the Wife of Bath is a feminist. When I use the word feminist I do not mean bra-burning, men hating feminist. I mean a woman who is in touch with herself. She is her own genre when it comes to feminism. She is comfortable with her sexuality and what she wants from life. Through Chaucer, she is viewed as a promiscuous; however, she is actually in control of her sexual adventures.