Wife Of Bath Sexism

Geoffrey Chaucer, an English poet during the middle ages, wrote The Canterbury Tale’s Wife of Bath; he was born from a humble middle-class family and climbed his way up through the aristocracy. The Wife of Bath main protagonist is molded by a sexist culture of her times. My goal with this paper is to shed light on The Wife of Bath’s main character. A story of a smart, strong-willed woman who manipulates her way to financial and personal independence, is she a feminist or a smart and scheming woman?

A writer’s work is somewhat a reflection of his life, his surrounding or his true emotion. Chaucer’s life is a clear example of perseverance, adaptation, and wit. “Chaucer’s own family history is an example of the increasing social fluidity of late

“Of the tribulation that’s in marriage – about which I’m an expert in my age” (1876). Alisoun marries at a very young age of 12, she had five husbands, three of which she claimed were good and two were bad. Alisoun challenged the idea of what’s expected to a wife during the middle ages. She argued that the bible scripture has no mention on prohibiting women of multiple marriages. “Where, can you say, in any kind of age, That our high God has forbidden marriage Expressly, in a word? I pray, tell me. Or where did he command virginity? (1873). Therefore, she believes that she can freely marry as often as her husband dies.

I’ll persevere; I’m not fastidious. In wifehood, I will use my instrument as freely as my Maker has it sent. If I’m aloof, then God send me dismay! My husband can well have it, night and day, when it pleases him to come and pay his debt. A husband I will have- I won’t stop yet- Who shall be both my debtor and my slave, With tribulation, unless he behaves, Upon his flesh while I may be his wife. I have the power, during all my life Over his own body, and not he

He was the love of her life. She was forty years old and he was twenty, a poor drop out student with nothing to offer her, no land, title or riches. The difference between him and the others is that Alisoun loves him. Alisoun “gave him all land and property that ever had been given me before” (1885).

Jenkins, on the other hand, was abusive he treated her horribly often beating her up, then tries to win her back. “I’ll tell you the truth now, by Saint Thomas, Why once out of his book a leaf I rent, For which he hit me so bad that deaf I went (1886). The Book of Wicked Wives was his guide, reading it every night and day. Jenkins uses this book as justification that women are evil. Alisoun stayed in their relationship until he almost killed