Women's Themes in The Wife of Bath by Geoffery Chaucer

The Wife of Bath Analysis The Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale tells about a woman who’s been married previous of times. She is described as Chaucer’s most delightful creature, although the Clerk and Pearson found her to be the most outrageous. She believed the woman should be head of household, nondependent on a man, woman should have the same equal opportunities as the men, and as soon as the men saw it that way, men and women would be happier in their marriage. She begins to describe her positions in her tale “The Wife of Bath” to why she stands affirms by it. In the Prologue, she talks about her life and the many experiences she has had.

Then there is the tale where we find the answer to the question, “What do women want?”, sovereignty over their husbands. Finally we see the Wife’s idealized version of marriage in her tale. The hag gains control over the knight by forcing him to marry her, then giving him control to decide her loyalty, he cant chose so he gives up all control to her just like that and it’s over, the end, they live happily ever after. We encounter the first issue of sovereignty when the Wife of Bath is telling us about herself in her prolog. She mentions that three of her husbands were good because they were old and rich.

“I grant you life, if you can tell to me what thing it is that women most desire.”(Chaucer. Page 702, lines 910-911.) On his journey, he ran into what seems like an old hag and ended up marrying her. The old hag was actually a magical woman who display herself as an old woman to teach the knight a lesson that looks isn’t everything. During this time, he seen the woman in her natural form and realize that he understood that all women want is control and power over their husbands.

In the wife's tale a knight raped a woman and was sent to court for sentencing. The only way out of getting sentenced to death was to find the answer to a question the queen and court decided upon. “A twelve month and a day to seek and learn /Sufficient answer, then you shall return./ I shall take gages from you to extort/surrender of your body to the court.” (Page 283) This part of the tale created a serious and controlling picture because in this situation  one could die and one has been raped. The queen has taken control over the knight and then she sent the knight to find the answer of what women wanted most in a marriage. The woman who were raped had no power in the forced intimate contact that the knight brought upon her.

The One and Only Wife of Bath In The Canterbury tales, Chaucer uses The Wife of Bath as a representation of what it was like for Women in the Middle Ages to be striped of equality and bow to the otherwise male dominated society. For the representation of women Chaucer uses the Tales of “The Scholar”, “The Second Nun “The Reeve’s”, and “The Franklin” and many others in a very dry, pretentious manner to steer readers into the view of how a women of the Middle Ages should be as a so called “virtuous” wife or woman. The concept of marriage plays a major part in manifesting the idea of the issues of inferiority of women. The perception rendered as women having to be obedient and inferior figure to their husbands or male counter parts. Chaucer gives give the audience much to think about in terms of The Wife of Baths being she is the total opposite to women of her time.

Out of rage he kills the guards; this is the first murder Macbeth commits without consulting Lady Macbeth. The next morning Malcom and Donalbain flee the country because t... ... middle of paper ... ...lusion one example of light is when Lady Macbeth finds out that King Duncan is coming to the castle. She says that she wants the darkness to cover her for when King Duncan is murdered. She makes Macbeth murder Duncan because he looks too much like her father when he sleeps. Therefore Lady Macbeth has to go retrieve it because Macbeth is too traumatized to return.

Elizabeth loved her cousin, Elizabeth Smith... ... middle of paper ... ...r equality of women whose only representation at the time was through husbands. The brave few who courageously fought in the movement reformed our country and society today. Women such as Alice Paul and Susan B Anthony not only brought on equality for women today these women also brought on a new way women thought towards themselves. Today women think of themselves as independent smart citizens who can be whoever they want to be, politicians, doctors, scientists, etc. In addition women today can wear what they choose.

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, he uses the two women characters of the Prioress and the Wife of Bath as contrasts in order to satirize the church’s view of women. Women were admired for being pure, unattainable, and virtuous, and not for any other talents that they might have. They had moved from Eve to Mary. The 12th century also gave us the concept of “Courtly Love”, a form of which is still seen in today’s modern romance novels. The stories of courtly love were at their peak at the same time that the church was at its most powerful.

It is directly associated with how today 's society will perceive outer beauty more than the inner kind. History has taught us that women have struggled for centuries, and that their intelligence was always overshadowed by their appearance. This continues to happen in the present time, especially with all the superficial people telling others what is acceptable in regards to beauty. It is because of this that the writings of Sontag and Woolf are particularly informative. Both authors felt that women should have the opportunity to fulfill their full potential the same way as men have been able to.

Hamlet finds out that Claudius poisoned his father while he was sleeping to gain control of the throne. Hamlet confronts his mother about knowing about the murder of his father, and her affair with Claudius. Claudius attempts to kill Hamlet on a “vacation” voyage to England, by getting Rosncrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet’s boyhood friends to carry a letter to the King of England to chop off Hamlet’s head. Hamlet intercepts the letter, and sends a letter to the King of England, telling him to immediately cut off the heads of the messengers. Hamlet then plots to kill Claudius because “He… killed my king and whored my mother.” Laertes is allowed a duel against Hamlet to revenge his father, Polonius’, murder.