The Wife Of Bath Literary Analysis
The Wife of Bath beings her tale by describing the setting. The tale takes place in Britain during King Arthur’s rule. Britain used to be full of fairies and elves and incubi, but those creatures are gone because their spots have been taken by evil friars that are everywhere. A young, lusty knight from King Arthur’s court comes across a beautiful young maiden walking alone one day. Driven by lust, he rapes her. The people are scandalized and angered by the crime, that they petitioned for King Arthur to sentence the knight to death. However, Arthur’s queen and other ladies of the court intercede on his behalf and ask the king to give the queen the choice on what to do with the knight. King Arthur conceded and the queen challenges the knight: …show more content…
The knight then begins his journey, and he quickly loses hope because every woman he questions answers differently. Some claim that women love money and treasure best, some honor, some jolliness and happiness, some gorgeous clothes, some sex, some remarriage, some flattery, and some say that women want to be free to do as they wish. Lastly, some women say that they want to be considered discreet and secretive. However, Lady Bath argues that such an answer is clearly untrue, since no woman can keep a secret. As proof, she retells Ovid’s story of Midas. After she tells the story, she continues her story of the knight. After relentless searching and conflicting answers, the knight heads home. He approaches a forest and sees twenty four women dancing and decides to ask them his question. When he gets too close, the group vanishes, and all that is left is an ugly old woman. The old woman asks if the knight needs any help because old women know a lot of things. The knight explains his situation and tells her he would reward her if she can help him. The old woman tells the knight that he must swear to do anything she asks of him in return for her help, and the knight gladly
Use Of Satire In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight
898 Words | 4 PagesThe king and his knights wake up early one morning to go on a hunt for a boar. While they are gone, the lady of the castle goes to Sir Gawain’s room. On her way out, “she kissed him,” (12) and then was on her way. Because the lady of the castle is married to the king, the love shared between her and Sir Gawain must stay a secret. Although they just met, he is very polite to the lady and wins a kiss from her in the end.
Thatcher In The Wife Of Bath's Tale
291 Words | 2 PagesAs punishment he was given a year and a day to find out what it is to desire most. Everyone the knight asked gave him a different answer. One day an old woman met him and told him that woman desire to be in control of their partners. In the Movie Bianca the maiden takes control over the "knight" with her challenge. His entire career was in her hands.
All Women In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight
1290 Words | 6 PagesReluctantly the knight marries the old woman, yet he constantly complains about how old and hideous she is. Therefore, the old woman offers her husband a deal: either she can become young, beautiful, and a cheater, or she can remain old and faithful. The knight tells his wife that he wants her to choose whatever shall make herself happy, for that will make him happy as well. The old woman becomes young and beautiful, while also remaining faithful to her husband. Women have been the subject of subservient roles for centuries and medieval literary icons such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Canterbury Tales both depict plots that disvalue women and their
Wife Of Bath Inferences
244 Words | 1 PagesThere 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.
Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Research Paper
545 Words | 3 PagesThe knight accepts the challenge presented to him and stays true to his word despite the circumstances. Both the “Wife of Bath’s Tale” knight and the “Prologue knight show the standard of conduct that the nobility must
The Wife Of Bath: Social Injustices
206 Words | 1 PagesHer 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
Women In King Arthur King
866 Words | 4 PagesThe court is scandalized by the crime and decrees that the knight should be put to death by decapitation. However, Arthur’s queen and other ladies of the court intercede on his behalf and ask the king to give him one chance to save his own life. Arthur, wisely obedient to wifely counsel, grants their request. The queen presents the knight with the following challenge: if, within one year, he can discover what women want most in
Gender Roles In The Canterbury Tales
1395 Words | 6 Pages(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
Compare And Contrast The Wife Of Bath's Tale And The Pardoners Tale
740 Words | 3 Pages(Chaucer 902-906). On his way home, the old lady saved the knights life by telling him what it is that women most
Comparing Cantebury Tales 'And' The Pardoner's Tale
585 Words | 3 PagesThe 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 Wife Of Midas Analysis
1566 Words | 7 PagesNarrator: When the knight saw he could not find the answer to what women desire most—the spirit in his breast was so sorrowful and hopeless. Knight: Oh, I have searched high and
The Wife Of Bath Feminist Essay
1060 Words | 5 PagesIn 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.
Compare And Contrast The Wife Of Bath's Tale
399 Words | 2 PagesThe 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).
The Use Of Balance In The Knight's Story
420 Words | 2 PagesThe Knight uses this story to introduce the idea of marriage that will later be completed. The Knight tells Theseus’ story so simply, but he makes sure that the readers do not see it that way. He explains that there is more to the story when he says, “And were it not too long to tell again / I would have fully pictured the campaign” (27). The Knight says this so the readers know that there was more to the story than
Wife Of Bath Analysis
910 Words | 4 PagesAlso in the story the part where the knight commits the crime that propels the rest of the story, “He saw a maiden walking all forlorn ahead of him, alone as she was born. And of that spite maiden, spite of all she said. By force he took her maidenhead” ( 61- 64). In the first quote the knight learns a valuable lesson that when finding a woman to wife and love, you must evaluate her on how she will treat you and love you.
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