ipl-logo

The Good Wife Of Bath Language Analysis

865 Words4 Pages

Will Frimel
Dr. McBride
British Literature
13 February, 2018
The Good Wife of Bath
In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer uses descriptive language while describing the good Wife of Bath to reveal that despite her outward presentation, the good Wife is not the holy person that her looks and history suggests. Furthermore, Chaucer skillfully utilizes figurative language and irony to indicate that the good Wife is a social preacher that shares greater truths from her past experiences to her peers.
In the introduction of the good Wife of Bath in Chaucer’s General Prologue, the motif of red is paired with the outward appearance of the good Wife to reveal her true morals and values that her religious background masks. Throughout her introduction, …show more content…

The good Wife appears to her company as a woman that has been in many different relations, which leads to tensions with the Pardoner and other characters who hold religious positions in society. However, the good Wife is “somewhat deaf, which [is] quite a shame.” (448) This represents the woman’s dedication and commitment to her own values. Furthermore, it suggests that the good Wife simply ignores those who don’t agree with her morals and sexually charged lifestyle, whether that be the Pardoner or the Church itself. Even though the good Wife fails to listen to others, she still makes sure to preach her past history to those around her. Chaucer states “she knew much about wandering by the way.” (469) In other words, the good Wife has gained a vast amount of knowledge from different experiences throughout her life. Furthermore, this line demonstrates that the woman did not learn from traditional Church or scholarly texts, but rather learned from ordeals in life. This reflects the woman’s progressive views on relationships and sexual promiscuity, which separates her from the Church. Chaucer displays the good Wife’s advanced preacher role in society when he states “she had such a talent for making cloth that she surpassed the weaver of Ypres and Ghent.” (449-450) Ypres and Ghent are both cities with rich, historical, and deep religious connections to the Church. By using figurative language, Chaucer ties together the role of the weaver with the role of the preacher. Weavers have the ability to stitch together stories and history into one fabric to reveal a greater moral path. Similarly, the good Wife shares her past sexual relationships to reveal truths about people, especially the wants of women and men, in

Show More
Related

Comparing Cantebury Tales 'And' The Pardoner's Tale

585 Words | 3 Pages

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s frame story “The Canterbury Tales”, we read a story about a group pilgrimage from London to Canterbury, which gives us insight of the life in fourteenth century England. On this journey, the Pardoner, the Wife of Bath and the Nun’s Priest all tell stories reflecting their unique personalities and views on life. Two of these stories are the “The Pardoner's Tales” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, and even though these stories were written a long time ago, we are still able to relate to them today. The Pardoner is a self-serving, non trustworthy man, so it comes as no surprise that this is the story that he tells, as he sells indulgences for people’s sins.

Read More

Image And Reality In The Lives Of Women In Northern New England

624 Words | 3 Pages

The first sentence of the book immediately stood out because it addresses the stereotype that society put women into at that time, “A woman’s environment was the family dwelling, and the yard or yards surrounding it” (Ulrich 13). The reader now knows that a woman’s duties during this time period were strictly confined to the house and nowhere else. However, it is astounding to realize that a woman can learn most of her trades during this time period from the house. It is true that during this time period women were the epicenter of trade it is even stated in the bible, “She is a skilled manufacturer, ‘She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.’ She is a hard-working agriculturist: ‘With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.’

Read More

Chaucer's Portrayal Of The Wife Of Bath

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

The Struggle For Power In Chaucer's The Wife Of Bath

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

The Canterbury Tales Vs The Pardoner's Tale

761 Words | 4 Pages

After reviewing the two tales “ The Pardoner's Tale” and “ The Wife of Bath's Tale” told by Chaucer, one tale effects me the most. Out of the two tales, I believe “The Pardoner's Tale” has better moral values and is more entertaining than, “The Wife of Bath”. The first reason that makes”The Pardoner's Tale” effective is the

Read More

Married Women In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

1243 Words | 5 Pages

In the Wife of Bath’s, she broke all the stereotypes Medieval society thought a wife is. She tells the people that being married intercourse is part of marriage and God has made privates parts to make generations, not to waste in doing nothing. Being categorized or stereotyped in Medieval society was hard for married women in the Medieval era because often they were portrayed as disloyal, uncontrolled sexual beasts because of the lack of marriage

Read More

10 Things I Hate About You And Taming Of The Shrew

894 Words | 4 Pages

“Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper” This repetition exposed that as a woman in thet Elizabethan era must conform to her gender’s expectations, obliging to anything that men do, as she as a woman does not have the right to be in charge of herself and must need a man to guide her as a woman couldn’t do it

Read More

Comparing Women In Sir Gawain And Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

1297 Words | 6 Pages

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are two pieces of British literature that are incredibly interesting and thorough. Women play important roles in both of the texts. Throughout Sir Gawain and The Green Knight there are several important females present. The women being Guinevere for a short period of time, Lady Bertilak, and Morgan Le Fay. Guinevere is presented at the beginning of the text before The Green Knight barges into the castle, and is presented as the standard of beauty.

Read More

Women In Othello And Chaucer's Wife Of Bath

975 Words | 4 Pages

“Come on, come on! You are pictures out of door, bells in your parlors, wildcats in your kitchens, saints in your injuries, devils being fended, players in your huswifery, and huswives in your beds.” (l.122-125. 2.1) Iago states that women only have two jobs- take care of the home, and give pleasure to their husbands in their beds. The Wife of Bath in Chaucer's, “The Canterbury Tales”, is a successful cloth maker, “At making cloth she had so great a bent she bettered those of Ypres and even of Gent.”

Read More

Gender Role In Wife Of Bath's Tale By Geoffrey Chaucer

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

Religion In The Pardoner's Tale Essay

503 Words | 3 Pages

The Wife’s lifestyle was immoral and religion could not justify the faults committed. Many may argue that religion does make moral individuals. Chaucer wrote about individuals that were religious yet committed fault after fault. That is not the case for everyone who beliefs in religion.

Read More

Comparing Marriage In Wife Of Bath´s Prologue And The Franklin's Tale

2103 Words | 9 Pages

According to William E. Mead ‘the evils of matrimony, […], were a favourite theme in the Middle Ages’ . This means that marriage was a recurring topic and especially marriages that had trials and problems to overcome. Indeed, in the Canterbury Tales Chaucer uses for some of his tales the setting of marriage. In this essay, the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and the Franklin’s Tale will be used to demonstrate how Chaucer represented marriage and what possible functions could it have. With functions I mean in the texts as part of the plot as well as how marriage functions as a plot device.

Read More

Character Analysis Of The Wife Of Bath

1052 Words | 5 Pages

The importance of experience is clearly expressed in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and is the reflected in the Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Wife of Bath makes a defense for her “experience” and five marriages in her prologue before explaining each of her marriages. She uses scripture, in a somewhat distorted way, but scripture none the less, to defend her actions. She uses the example of Solomon to back up her claim for marriage by stating, “old Solomon, I think he had more wives than one” (173). The irony is that she is using the same Bible of the church that she is rebelling against, but again both the Wife and the church at the time used scriptures out of context to reach a desired societal

Read More

Wife Of Bath Analysis

910 Words | 4 Pages

A story that reflects a timeless issue of equality, morals, and lesson on what women really desire. The Wife of Bath by Geoffrey Chaucer is a story in The Canterbury Tales that expresses multiple moral lessons and an exciting dialogue that provides an entertaining story. The two stories that will be examined today are the “Pardoners Tale” and “The Wife of Bath”, after much evaluation I believe that “The Wife of Bath” is the better story. This is the better story because it’s more entertaining and also has more morals with better quality.

Read More

The Use Of Satire In The Canterbury Tales

588 Words | 3 Pages

In the story, “The Wife of Bath,” Chaucer handles satire to critique class and nobility. Alike today, class and nobility still haunt us. Being that, we still see it in high school, it obviously hasn 't gone away. Chaucer brings forth the issue by sending the Knight on a journey of a lifetime. When he arrives back, he still doesn 't have the answer that he was sent to find.

Read More

More about The Good Wife Of Bath Language Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document