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Role of women in shakespeare's play
Role of women in shakespeare's play
Power of female characters in shakespeare plays pdf
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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.”
In the second-to-last stanza, it appears that the woman had decided that the knight had fully learned his lesson, and they were able to have a happy relationship. The last stanza seems to be an ideal that the Wife of Bath holds. Instead of wives being, “meek and young and fresh in bed,” the Wife of Bath wishes for men to be held to that same standard. She also prays that any man who, “won’t be governed by their wives” to be killed, meaning that she wants men to hold the same amount of respect for their romantic partner as anyone else, otherwise they should be punished. These stanzas offer a satisfying conclusion, while also adding in the Wife of Bath’s ideas of gender equality and respect.
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.
From previous evidence in the text, the Wife of Bath explains why only her first three marriages worked, in this quote she use her body in marriage to get her way, she has an obligation to her husband 's, but it has been stated previously that she will use it for her profit and
There are many inferences about the Wife of Bath throughout this story. With inferences such as the wife doesn't find women trustworthy can be showed with examples from the text. "yet out it must, no secret can we hide" (l.124). In this quote she is explaining a tale of a man trusting a women with a secret and then the women not being able to keep the secret and having to tell it to a body of water.
Many women in The Canterbury Tales appear to be beautiful, pretty, and sweet. They do not reflect the true mindset of 14th century European women. Women were known for not being successful as their husbands, but not in the case of The Wife of Bath. She is able to become a successful merchant as we learn in her prologue. This already makes her a definable character who represents feminism ideals because she was able to do something that most women are not known to do which is sell and earn a living from it.
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
What do women yearn for most? At times, most women cannot answer this ancient question. A substantial amount of women prefer money, never ending youth, to be wed, to be widowed, to be respected, or to be pampered; the list is infinite. In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, King Arthur’s knight rapes a young maiden; the punishment at this time was beheading. Yet, the King allowed the Queen to choose the consequences that the knight will suffer.
She leaves the reader surprised and wanting read more. By using examples throughout her tale the Wife of Bath enforced her moral, woman deserve dominance over men and it’s in their best interest to listen. The Wife of Bath kept her tale interesting, keeping the reader’s attention. She supported her moral message with examples that can be related to today’s world. For those reasons she definitely had the better
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.
The way Chaucer describes The Wife of Bath can easily be displayed by the actresses of today or the characters that these actresses portray. The Wife of Bath is a lot like Marilyn Monroe and Emma Stone specifically. Marilyn Monroe was very provocative and came off as a whore, but was still widely accepted. The Wife of Bath is a whore and dresses provocatively for her time. She wears the scarlet red to signify who she is to other bystanders.
Although the wife of bath thinks she has the upperhand in her fifth marriage, she actually gives more to her husband than readers may think. “-From that day on we had no more debate. So help me God, to him I was as kind/ As any wife from here to the world’s end,/And
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.
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.
The Wife of Bath states, “You have two choices; which one will you try? To have me old and ugly till I die, but still a loyal, and humble wife that never will displease you all her life, or would you rather I were young and pretty and chance your arm what happens in a city where friends will visit you because of me, yes, and in other places too, maybe. Which would you rather have? The choice is all your own” (395-403).
