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Misogynistic Gender Roles

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In What Women want: the Wife of Bath and the Modern Woman, Gwen Brewer discusses the revolutionary change occurring today in the lives of women. She compares these new gender advancements to The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale when women were valued only for their maternal and sexual characteristics. The Wife of Bath serves as an example for women as she is able to break out of these misogynistic gender roles and do what she wants to do. In this article, Brewer proclaims the Wife of Bath as a feminist character, as can be seen in her appearance and actions.

The author begins her article by retelling the prologue and tale of the Wife of Bath. She observes that Chaucer’s selection of pilgrims is a microcosm of humanity, not only as in the 14th …show more content…

A closer examination reveals this monologue as less of a masterpiece and more of a long-winded diatribe. Alisoun’s soliloquy is full of contradictions and errors. For example, in her defense of the institution of marriage she acknowledges the divinity of the union, yet she also confesses to fornication with other men even while married. She claims that marriage is important because it raises stocks of virginity, but all of her 5 marriages are childless. She also edits the part of her references which does not fit her argument, as seen in her story of Solomon. Alisoun justifies her polyandry with Solomon of the bible, who also had multiple partners, but she fails to mention that Solomon’s carnal hunger led to him turning away from God. She even completely fabricates sources, as the quote she attributes to Ptolemy does not appear anywhere in Almagest. Towards the end when she talks about her fourth and fifth husbands, she begins to ramble and repeat herself; even losing her place several times (854). It seems like she enjoys rhetoric more than she does logic. However, these mistakes help build the Wife of Bath as a rounded and emotionally complex character, who experiences feelings of love and loss like everyone

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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.

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She held herself up as a strong woman who could do what she wanted. The Wife of Bath was a cloth maker (high quality) of the middle class who had done very well at her job. She was known as being a business woman and very knowledgeable; wore colorful clothes and scarlet stocking shoes, and is a church goer. The woman has a specific figure that includes wide hips, skinny legs, and a gapped tooth also meaning she was “over-sexed”. The Wife of Bath travels plenty and has visited Jerusalem, Rome, Spain, Cologne, and Boulogne, and rides horses.

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Most of her husbands were not dominate in the marriage. Her last husband was the one she truly loved despite the fact that he laid his hands on her. The Wife of Bath married three older men that were rich and submissive. Throughout her marriages, she would discipline her husbands and torment them into total submissiveness. She would also use methods like manipulating them until they give her money for satisfaction in bed.

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The Wife of Bath attempts to spiritually justify own lust and desire by comparing herself with men’s ability and stance in medieval era. In the medieval ages, the married men could have sexual affairs with most women while married women were not allowed to have any sexual relations. She sees sexuality as God given gift to men and women equally, so she refuses to be condemned for her lusts and desires. However, for Margery Kempe, abstain from sexual desires is the perfect model, and connection with God converts lost chastity for an

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The Wife of Bath’s behaviors are questionable but are inherently aided by the social injustices that face women of this time period. The Wife of Bath discloses that for her first three marriages she sought out older wealthy men for sex and money. Her intentions included making her husbands fall in love with her and then making them have enormous amounts of sex until they die. In addition, the wife elaborates on her occasional tumultuous tirades of accusing her husbands of being unfaithful to her. Her uproars chided her husbands into persistently obliging into her every request.

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The Canterbury Tales possesses a group of stories told by the characters to pass time as they take a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas á Becket in Canterbury. In Medieval times, gender roles and occupation played a significant part in how one should act. Everyone had to behave in the utmost proprietary, in their position, because it was expected of them and valued. If one acted out of character or defied their civility, they were looked down upon. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, The Nun and The Knight best demonstrate the Medieval value of propriety, while The Wife of Bath best defies it.

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Many female critics have looked towards The Wife of Bath as a feminist role model (Reisman) She wanted authority over her five husbands, “She’d been respectable throughout her life, with five churched husbands bringing joy and strife, Not counting other company in her youth;” (Chaucer, l. 459-461) In Othello, the society centered around the men having all the control over women except in their beds, which was when the women could take control. Othello uses his power to over Desdemona to mock her,“Ay, you did wish that I would make her turn. Sir, she can turn, and turn, and get go on, And turn again.

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In The Wife Of Bath’s Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer, the reader is exposed to the roles of women in medieval England. During these times, there were instances where some women were supposed to be submissive to men and others were that women actually had some forms of power. An analysis of the women's roles in the middle ages reveals one thing: women in the middle ages wanted equality, and they still want it, even in the modern times. In The Wife Of Bath’s Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer, women’s roles, are redefined in many ways.

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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.

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