ipl-logo

Gender Roles In The Wife Of Bath's Tale

1047 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The history of the portrayal of women in literature

The Presentation of Gender in the Wife of Bath as a Response to Medieval Misogyny

While the exploration of gender and power through literature was not new to Chaucer, the Canterbury Tales seemed to serve as a vessel for the cumulation of his unfinished ideas and storylines concerning women and the role that men play in their lives. The theme of gender and power is discernible throughout a suitable amount of the Canterbury Tales. Arguably, the story in which this theme is presented in the most impactful way is the Wife of Bath’s Tale. Chaucer exhibits a rebuttal of medieval misogyny through the Wife of Bath’s Tale, championing the Wife of Bath as an icon of female independence. This is presented through the language used to describe the Wife …show more content…

The Wife of Bath is displayed as strong, independent, and unconcerned with any social standards she may or may not be held to. When explaining the Wife of Bath Chaucer details,“Bold was her face, and handsome; florid too. She had been respectable all her life, And five times married, that’s to say in church, Not counting other loves she’d had in youth”(Chaucer 14). Multiple clothing items add onto her attitude of self-determination and power, as she is described as wearing a hat that resembled a shield, and sharp spurs on her feet (Chaucer 15). With the Wife of Bath being described as a mistress with multiple husbands, one would expect her to be characterized as a scheming harlot that men should be wary of (as was common in medieval misogynist tales). On the contrary, she was seen in a positive light along with her traits of independence. The introduction of a well-received, bold female character among the company of predominantly men foreshadows the tale that she will eventually …show more content…

For example, the story begins with a rape. Another difference, women hold the most agency throughout the story. The queen is given the fate of King Arthur’s knight, the “old hag” saves the knight by her own accord, and in the end holds mastery over her husband. This differs from what I would expect to see in a 14th century romance tale about a knight. While the King does turn the knight over to the queen (showing that there is still a power imbalance between men and women), the knight is judged by the queen and a court filled with noble ladies, maidens, and widows. He is given another chance at life by the queen, and his life is secured from the knowledge he received from the woman sitting on the green. Without the women in the story, he would be dead. “Had not the queen and many another lady importuned the king so long for mercy that in the end he granted him his life and gave him to the queen to dispose of” (172). During the first class discussion of the Canterbury Tales, there seemed to be some unsureness about whether the story was about female independence. Some believed that because the old hag turned into a beautiful woman at the end, consequently rewarding the rapist, that there was an ulterior motive. Personally, I find the conclusion to be evidence of the feminine bias present in the

Show More
Related
229 Words | 1 Pages

Chaucer’s Portrayal of the Wife of Bath The Wife of Bath presents the reader with a woman who compiles to the stereotypes corresponding with the negative misogyny of women during the medieval times. Wife of Bath is viewed the same as this stereotypical woman. Some can agree with Chaucer’s choice of these negative traits of The Wife of Bath, but the same conclusion is always met. Chaucer chooses to display the Wife of Bath as a misogynistic symbol of negative traits in order to use her as an object of mockery.

Read More
931 Words | 4 Pages

In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer uses the tale as a fable to reveal the human nature of shallowness by its plot and characters. The story begins from the ancient days of King Arthur, when the “hero” of the story condemned sexual assault, but then was saved by an ugly woman. Chaucer created characters that are lusty, greedy, materially desires, and amazingly shallow in order to compare and comment on the lifestyle of the higher classes at the time. From the start of the story, Geoffrey Chaucer illustrated how foolishly shallows the young Knight is in comparison to the upper classman.

Read More
249 Words | 1 Pages

Chaucer characterizes The Wife of Bath as controlling and powerful. The Wife of Bath was a complete contradiction of the typical female, during this time. The average woman was submissive and reserved. Whereas, The Wife of Bath possessed character traits that one would associate with men. Chaucer emphasizes this trait by describing her in such ways one would describe a man.

Read More
1406 Words | 6 Pages

In “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” Chaucer utilizes characterization,

Read More
1381 Words | 6 Pages

“A patriarchal society consists of a male-dominated power structure throughout organized society and in individual relationships” (Napikoski). Yet, Chaucer discusses and talks about The Wife of Bath as someone who is powerful, even more powerful than her spouses. He does this through describing her attire, some of which was red which symbolized wealth and also through the statement that she has been married five times. “Hir hosen weren of fin scarlet reed,/ Ful straite yteyd, and shoes ful moiste and

Read More
651 Words | 3 Pages

A Woman as A Misogynist The Wife of Bath in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is an interesting character, much more forward about her sexuality than most others you may read about. In the setting of the story, in that time period, women were generally viewed as prim and proper, even prudish. Alexandra Losonti, in her article “Discourse and Dominion in Chaucer’s Wife of Bath Prologue,” argues “In the Middle Ages women were identified by their roles in life and society as wives, widows, mothers or maidens and were portrayed in relation to a man or group of men” (5). The Wife of Bath is defined as just that, a wife of a man. However, she defies every other standard quality of a woman with her exploited sexuality and in-charge attitude.

Read More
556 Words | 3 Pages

Through this character Chaucer also implies that rich intelligent people are apt to sin through the use of deceit in order to fulfill their desires. The Wife of Bath’s Tale Prologue focuses on Alison, a lustful woman who desires control over her lovers. She is powerful and vital, having gone through five husbands. Alison is a symbol of opposition to authority because she interprets the Bible in her own way, which is that women can and should be allowed to marry more than once. The Wife of Bath preaches dominance over men in a relationship, and advises women to make the most of marriage “debts”.

Read More
399 Words | 2 Pages

The Wife of Bath and her tale are the most similar out of all the tales because they both share a domineering outlook over others. In the general prologue she is told to have had five husbands and is described as a looker, “Her face was bold and handsome and ruddy,” (Chaucer 39). In her prologue she goes more in depth of her time spent with her five husbands. Wife of Bath talks most about how she gains control over her husbands. For instance, her fifth husband was the controlling force in their marriage until he made the mistake of hitting her and telling her he would do anything to keep her with him and said, “My own true wife, do as you wish for the rest of your life…” (335).

Read More
405 Words | 2 Pages

One of Chaucer’s Tales called the Wife of Bath displays remarkable diversity in the genre such as showing the social norms, sex, and money. The underlying theme of “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is that women should be allowed to decide for themselves. Furthermore, men are better off allowing women to make this decision. The main character of the Tale “the Wife” or Allusion is a beautiful, intelligent, and young woman that attempts to justify her being remarried five times all of which for different reasons.

Read More
1333 Words | 6 Pages

Beowulf and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” are both narratives in which gender acts as an important theme within their individual communities; both have underlying meanings when it comes to defining what the role men and women in a good community should be. Or in other words, both stories paint a vivid picture of the role of women during the medieval time period, by suggesting that one gender had more power over another. However, these two narratives take alternative paths when expressing their views; Beowulf conveys its message through what is missing, while “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” incorporates satire and uses explicit narrative when telling the experience of a woman that is highly different from other women in her time. Furthermore, another difference that is appealing to the reader’s eyes, besides the way the two narratives reflect to women’s role in medieval times, is that men become the hero in Beowulf, while “the wife”, so a woman, becomes the authority figure in the story of “The Wife of Bath’s Tale.” I want to first introduce the two main differences between the two narratives and then I will explain how regardless of the differences, both of these narratives’ main goal is to show that women had less power and a good community back that time was male dominated.

Read More
265 Words | 2 Pages

In the Prologue, it tells the reader that she believed that women were the head of the household. She tells her tale by using her five marriages as examples for her tale. In today’s world Americans will use the quote “happy wife happy life” which portrays as if women have a way of controlling men. The Wife of Bath says, “ She boast of how she controlled her first three husbands by always making them

Read More
960 Words | 4 Pages

The definition of the word feminism is, the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. Back in the olden days, women were seen as inferior to men and had to let them do all of the “hard work”. In The Wife of Bath’s Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer, Alice is presented as a bold and audacious character, and therefore feels differently about the norm of letting men have all of the rights. She uses her willpower to overcome the social mentality that men have a higher status than women. When labeling herself with this authority, she is able to gain control over her many husbands and win what a man would normally inherit at birth.

Read More
775 Words | 4 Pages

In the book of Wife of Bath’s Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer shows the role of a woman being weak creatures while men are economically powerful and educated. Women are seen as inheritor of eve and thus causes

Read More
1060 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout her introduction of the tale, and the story itself, we see the Wife of Bath as an experienced, intellectual woman, who despite living in a world of patriarchal power, provides for herself financially, emotionally, and physically. As a feminist icon, she confronts serious social issues that illustrate the subjugation women faced. During her prologue and her tale, it is very clear that the Wife of Bath is proud and not ashamed of her sexuality. She views sex as a good ideal, and argues it, using references from the Bible, that God’s intentions

Read More
1052 Words | 5 Pages

The Wife of Bath: An Analysis of Her Life and Her Tale The Wife of Bath’s Prologue stays consistent with the facts that experience is better than the societal norms, specifically those instilled by the church leadership. Chaucer uses the Wife of Bath to display the insanity of the church, but through switching and amplifying their view of men and chastity onto the opposite gender. The church doctrine at the time held celibacy in an idolized manner, forgetting the inability for humans to ever reach perfection, or live up to this standard. They also did not hold women in a high regard at all, again this is where Chaucer flips the role, as the Wife of Bath describes her five marriages in her prologue, essentially describing each as a conquest, where the result is her having all control.

Read More

More about Gender Roles In The Wife Of Bath's Tale

Related Topics

Open Document