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How does geoffrey chaucer portray women in the canterbury tales
How does geoffrey chaucer portray women in the canterbury tales
How does geoffrey chaucer portray women in the canterbury tales
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William Thatcher is a peasant who forges papers with Chaucer a writer he meets in order to become a knight. Thatcher needs to "change his stars" like his father told him to do, when he left him with a knight. Thatcher participates in jousting matches to show his knightly prowess. He falls for a maiden, who seems to love him but needs prof of his love. She challenges Thatcher to lose every match of purpose and only then will she believe him.
Gloria Steinem once stated, “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.” This quote is saying that women don’t need men, but the world has made the impression that they do. In the Wife of Bath’s Tale, women desire power over their husbands. In Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale, in lines 214 and 215, it states, “A woman wants the self-same sovereignty Over her husband as over her lover, And master him; he must not be above her.”
Questions: 2.) In this section, the Wife of Bath comments on the different answers given to the Knight, and her comments give insight to her opinions and views of women. For example, the text states, “Others assert we women find it sweet when we are thought dependable, discreet and secret, firm of purpose and controlled, never betraying things that we are told. But that’s not worth the handle of a rake; women conceal a thing? For Heaven’s sake!”
One inference I can make about the Wife of Bath in "The Tale of the Wife of Bath" is that she is money hungry. In this response I am going to explain why I think she is money hungry. She had given hints to being money hungry, she never fully came out and said she marries for money or some type of goods. One clue the author provides is that she is constantly marrying. Are inferences the same as predictions?
In the beginning of the Wife of Bath’s prologue she is explaining to the other travels that she is an expert in marriage. She tells stories of her five husbands to “prove” to the others that she is knowledge and has enough experience in this subject matter and should listen to her. While explaining the “tricks” she uses on her husbands she says “‘Since woman’s less reasonable than male, / you must therefore be patient.’” (Chaucer, 441,442). The Wife of Bath is saying that women aren’t as patient as men and can’t control their emotions which is why men have to control theirs.
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).
Her actions do not fit the model visions a husband would have of a wife in the medieval times. In addition to the emotional and sexual abuse, the Wife of Bath sought
“The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale” that we have been studying consists of several claims and arguments. Some of them are marriage is not a sin, women and men are equal, a wife should have the control over her husband, the husband should obey and follow his wife’s orders, and those men who did not follow the rule have to be punished by god. However, not all of the arguments are present in both the prologue and the tale. The main argument, which is present in both the prologue and the tale, is that a wife should be incharge in relationship and take control over her husband. At the same time, the husband should love and obey his wife by following her orders.
1.The subject-matter is the experiences of the Wife of Bath in her past marriages. She had been married five times. She justifies that it was alright for her to marry this many times even though people are condemning her for it because God did not mention how many times a woman should be married. Meanwhile, she is also planning to be wedded to a sixth husband, preferably a Christian, even though she is still married.
I can 't get out of this box. The last time I looked out my window I saw meadows. Long, far, empty meadows. Living on the great plains has it 's benefits, but those meadows are ruining it for me. I keep my head away from the window.
As the Wife of Bath is introduced into “The Canterbury Tales”, her prologue and tale serve as two key pieces of information for understanding who this character is, and what her motives are. In the Bath’s tale, we are introduced to a knight that, overcome by lust, rapes a young maiden. King Arthur’s Queen and the other women in the court tell him that he has a year to figure out what women want most in the world. If incorrect, he will be beheaded. After a year of searching for his answer, the Knight had completely given up on the quest, finding too many differing opinions.
In the fourteen century, men were always the superior, head of the household, the breadwinner, but women were always inferior, they would stay at home, do the house work, cook, and never would have a job. Well, times have changed. Women are reaching an equal status to men in political, social and economic matters It’s part of the idea called Feminism. In many ways the Wife of Bath displays many characteristic of women in the 21st century. Instead of being directed by men, she views herself as an independent person.
What do woman want? Do they want complete control of equality? One woman we have come to know, seems to hold the answer to these questions. The Wife of Bath is bold and an outspoken woman. She is well suited for love, or so it seems.
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.
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.
