Men and women both have the capability to deceive each other; yet, in the fifteenth century, a patriarchal society would blame women the most when it comes to dishonesty. In “The Wife of Bath's Prologue” and the “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” of The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer gives women the opportunity to defend their gender against the dominating male sex. Both texts describe the negative social views of women and how the Wife intends to correct them through her own gender perceptions plus the story of a young knight who learns the difference between truths and lies from a hideous, aging hag. Men should stop lying about women’s deception for both are equally capable; nonetheless, some lies are necessary for the truth to emerge, particularly, …show more content…
She attacks the stereotype that generalizes all women as people who lie to get married. Only a “scoundrel” will believe this is true, most especially, men themselves. The Wife implies that men are the ones lying if they cast the burden of pretense on women alone when they also put their best foot forward during courtship. Consequently, women believe in these facades that would prove to be false after marriage. Men should stop degrading women as liars because men and women are equally capable of lying or at least, hiding who they truly are while they woo women. Consequently, if the marriage fails, husbands should stop blaming their wives for being the cause, since the stability of their relationship depends on both, especially their virtues as spouses. The real scoundrel is the husband who holds his wife responsible for their failed marriage when he may be the most deceiving person in the marriage if he keeps mistresses on the side. Men, not women, are the greatest deceivers, if they lie to women before and after marrying …show more content…
Since the knight complains that he married an elderly, revolting woman, the latter underlines her virtues by asking him to choose between an “ugly and old” woman, but “a true, humble wife,” or a “young and fair” wife who will attract numerous suitors (Chaucer 1220-1225). The hag says that she may be physically unattractive; however, she is a good woman and wife, characteristics that make her worthy of love. Furthermore, while the hag earlier suggests that a young, beautiful woman may be prone to having lovers, she also questions this stereotype. After the knight gives her the right to decide whether she should be a hag or a beautiful young woman, she chooses to be “both fair and good” (Chaucer 1241). First, the passage implies that just because someone is beautiful, it does not necessarily mean she is an easy prey or immoral. The Wife of Bath celebrates all kinds of beauty, both inside and outside. Men should not judge both loveliness and ugliness because it takes time to know who women are deep inside. Second, deception in marriage can end if husbands trusted in their wives’ decisions. Since the knight gave the power to choose to his wife, he has also somewhat given up the power to deceive her in the future as he relies on her good judgment from now on. The hag reveals that dishonesty starts with the judgmental mind of a husband who sees himself
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Show MoreThe Wife of Bath’s Tale is a King Arthur romance based on the theme of the frog prince, but, with an unlikely twist. A knight commits a wrongful deed and when he is caught, the king turns his punishment over to the queen. The queen decides that given the crime, the knight will have the challenge of answering the question “what is it that women desire?”. He has exactly one year and a day to find the answer to this question, which proves to be harder than he thought. Alas, when the day arrives, he is tested by marrying an old woman who gave him the answer to the queens question.
The author appeals to this by demonstrating the temptation of Lady Bertilak romantically, although knowingly aware that she was married. Source Citation: Galbi, Author Douglas. “Fighting Temptation: Gawain and the Green Knight’s Lessons for Men.” Purple Motes, 4 July 2021,
Chaucer writes The Wife of Bath as a character who is superior to her husbands and as a woman who embraces her sexuality to the fullest extent. Through this characterization, she is able to defy the patriarchal society that is threatening to oppress her. She breaks the chains of ownership and finds a way to reverse the gender roles, by instead “chaining” her husbands. Yet, despite all of this, The Wife of Bath still succumbs to the idea that women are only relevant through their physical attributes by not only herself, but Chaucer as
Once one lies, credibility to oneself disappears. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” and the anonymous Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, agreements are made but truths become impure which is a direct reflection on one’s character. Once an agreement is made, a truth is made, a pact that must be fulfilled. Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath's Tale” centers itself around agreements.
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer gives the reader a wide spectrum of life in the Middle Ages. In these tales, Chaucer describes many different types of people, usually showcasing the characters good but also corrupted side. The most corrupt character of all, the Summoner, is the most morally, physically, and spiritually disgusting character described by Chaucer. Physically, the Summoner is definitely not a stunner.
The wife defends herself by mentioning that Solomon also had a lot of wife. The wife also mentioning that she would have sex with any guy whenever they want to. The wife tells her tale and she talks about her former husbands. The wife mention how she would admire the other guys while
Kightly Traits Tales of knights have been around for centuries but the knightly traits from those tales have not gone away. Honesty, loyalty, and Bravery are traits that are vital to being prosperous as a knight or just in everyday life. Honesty is always the best policy in life because without it so many open doors will close and not reopen ever again. One single lie can cause all the truth anyone has told to become questionable.
Destruction can come in the form of corruption as can be seen by literary in the medieval period. A good work to look at is Geofrey Chaucer's story, The Canterbury Tales as it relates corruption to people. In the most lively moments, Chaucer's story relays to the reader how many can be different than what they seem. These lies can also end up destroying a kingdom. Many would take deliberate steps to fool anyone who gaze upon them, and in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales it is seen that there were precedents that were set in place to make the situation of the story seem important as it "was soon one with them in fellowship, / Pledged to rise early and to take the way"(Chaucer l.32-33. 115).
(lines 93-98) It appears as if women are hard to understand and decipher when it is men who simply have a misunderstanding of the women’s needs. It seems as if the knight will never find his answer to such a simple question until he comes across an old lady who
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.
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
Beowulf and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” are both narratives in which gender acts as an important theme within their individual communities; both have underlying meanings when it comes to defining what the role men and women in a good community should be. Or in other words, both stories paint a vivid picture of the role of women during the medieval time period, by suggesting that one gender had more power over another. However, these two narratives take alternative paths when expressing their views; Beowulf conveys its message through what is missing, while “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” incorporates satire and uses explicit narrative when telling the experience of a woman that is highly different from other women in her time. Furthermore, another difference that is appealing to the reader’s eyes, besides the way the two narratives reflect to women’s role in medieval times, is that men become the hero in Beowulf, while “the wife”, so a woman, becomes the authority figure in the story of “The Wife of Bath’s Tale.” I want to first introduce the two main differences between the two narratives and then I will explain how regardless of the differences, both of these narratives’ main goal is to show that women had less power and a good community back that time was male dominated.
Women have usually been put down and told they could not do something because they are female and are “the weaker sex” this has happened for centuries and still is somewhat still happening today. This is a topic that can go on for a while with many different interpretations and what could have been different if males just let women help. However, book in the middle age have different views on women some are the devil designed to lead men astray others view them as object to obtain. William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer who have works that have been read for centuries are not any different. They treat most of their female characters worse than their male characters.
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).
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.