Women In Othello And Chaucer's Wife Of Bath

The portrayal of women in literature over the years has often times denoted roles and capabilities through society. Unlike most, Geoffrey Chaucer has been credited to writing various works exemplifying women by showing their equal powers and potentials. Through what ways does Chaucer depict The Wife of Bath to be a stronghold in society within the Canterbury Tales?

In Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, women are portrayed as either pure angelic beings and jewels, or as whores who are impure. They are objectified and shown as something to be used. The only women in this play are Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca compared to the main 6 male characters, not to mention the minor characters, who are also all male. Their depicted purpose is to belong to a man; Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca’s lives revolve around being wives to Othello, Iago and Cassio. This fits into the idea of a perfect Elizabethan woman, who’s lives are subject to their husband’s rule across all aspects, to be disposed of as men wish. Each female character is treated by men as a possession. However, there are also moments when they are presented as confident and challenge a male authority. This would have been exiting for Shakespeare’s female Elizabethan audience as women

Gender role refers to those behaviors and attitudes that are considered to belong to one sex. Gender role is based on femininity and masculinity that differentiate women and men by giving men some roles and women which results to gender inequality. There some work in society that is regarded to belong to women such as cooking, taking care of children and other less important roles while men are given roles that makes them superior than women. Most of the gender roles associated with women makes them inferior and creates a room to be oppressed. Gender roles are constructed by society and attributed to women or men. In the book of vindication of the right of a woman, Wollstonecraft brings out clearly the roles of a woman in her society and how it has led to oppression of women (Wollstonecraft 22). Wollstonecraft believes that men and women are equal given the same environment and empowerment, women can do anything a man can do. In her society, education for women is only aimed at making her look pleasing to men. Women are treated as inferior being and used by men as sex objects. Wollstonecraft believed that the quality of mind of women is the same with that of men, and therefore women should not be denied a chance for formal education that will empower them to be equal with men.

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?

Feminist point of view means the analysis of any literary works based on the feminist perception. Feminism has gradually become broad and noticeable in its attacks on male-dominated society. The Shakespearian era of the 16th century was a time when women were very inferior in the society. If we compare with other writers, Shakespeare was always careful of women and tried to give them respect in his different writings. If we look at his famous play named Othello we need to judge the equality of women in terms of political, social and economic perspective. The feminist perspective challenges sexism and other beliefs and practices that result in the domination of women. When we look at Othello from feminist point of view it is important to note how the women of this play are treated and stereotyped.

Shakespeare's Othello is set during the Renaissance period and therefore the roles of the women in Othello are supposedly bounded by the period when women are considered to be of low intellect. In Othello, most male characters assume that women are inherently promiscuous, which explains why all three women characters in the play are accused of sexual infidelity. Yet Shakespeare develops the women to speak the most sense throughout the play and able to trust other characters in the play. To the men in Othello, female sexuality is a threatening force more than it is an attractive one.

“The Wife of Bath" female stereotypes of the Middle Ages was “liberal” unlike most women being anonymous during the Middle Ages, she had a mind of her own and voiced herself. She did not worry about what others would say or thought about her, maybe because she knew that people always. The Wife has a confidant another woman called Alison. Alison is the carpenter’s young wife. She had committed adultery, but she was never punished for what she did.

All throughout time women have been treated differently from men. They were not given a voice or trust but was it for the better? I am deciding to defend feminist because women need to be treated better and in this essay i will show you how women were treated and why it 's wrong. Although i believe in defending feminism some believe women should not be treated equal. I am explaining this through showing that men were not expected to love their wives. The feminist lens provide modern society with the most compelling view of literature because men don’t trust women, men think women are cheaters and whores, and women don 't have a voice.

In his play “Othello,” Shakespeare is very compassionate towards the women of his era. He treats Desdemona with special sympathy. She is the victim of two crossed male aspirations — the devilry of villain Iago and the jealousy of her husband. The main cause of Desdemona’s tragedy is the total absence of women’s personal liberty. The lack of self-development without restrictions of society and family constricts the mind. She falls in love with some hero stories and even got married to it. Her life must have been bored and very constrained compare to contemporary time when everyone’s story sounds like a hero. Her father makes her to choose between him or Othello, and she can’t reserve the right to be close to both, similarly the feudal law worked

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.

After reading the prologue of the Wife of Bath’s Tale, it didn’t greatly astonished me. I don’t pictured women in the Middle Ages as second class citizens. In my opinion, they had more rights in Europe than they would in the Middle East or Africa today. If their husbands died, the wives were able to owe the land; the oldest child, despite being male or female, would inherit from their father; and can receive high positions (of course, not as high as the men). The most famous of all women in the Middle Ages is Eleanor of Aquitaine and Joan of Arc. I understand once women were married, they had to be subordinate to their husbands, but it was generally expected that they work alongside their husbands in their business. And once monasteries were

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.

A Modern View of Feminist Criticism William Shakespeare 's "Othello” can be analyzed from a feminist perspective. This criticism focuses on relationships between genders, like the patterns of thoughts, behavior, values, enfranchisement, and power in relations between and within sexes. A feminist examination of the play enables us to judge the distinctive social esteems and status of women and proposes that the male-female power connections that become an integral factor in scenes of Othello impact its comprehension. I believe that the critical lens that provides modern society with the most compelling view of literature is Feminist Criticism because it analyzes distrust and disloyalty among relationships, women being treated as possessions

Throughout the play we observe Emilia’s character change, and how she suffered the consequence of challenging the system. Shakespeare’s Othello, utilises a range of dramatic techniques to showcase how women where portrayed during early modern England, as tools, chaste and naive. The antagonist, Iago takes this to advantage to manipulate his wife to unintentionally take a part in the moral dissembling of Othello. The idea where women were being victimised is presented when Iago utilises his power and authority to

While Desdemona is a remarkably strong character, Emilia also displays independence unmatched by any other female in Othello, and there are multiple details of Shakespeare and his time that may have prompted such a portrayal. In Elizabethan England, many women worked behind the scenes of productions, like Shakespeare’s, as uncredited authors and editors (Crowley). Due to their anonymity, nobody can be sure that women were involved in Shakespeare’s plays nor Othello in particular, but there is a genuine possibility that female writers did have leverage. This may have had to do with how Emilia was portrayed as resilient from the time of Desdemona’s death all the way until her own, standing up for herself regardless of the ridicule it caused her (Iyasere). In fact, it even killed her in the end. Moreover, women may have surreptitiously helped formulate Emilia’s self-sufficiency and valor in order to either live vicariously through her, in frustration with their misogynist society, or at the very least, to comment on it. Additionally, it is likely that Emilia’s independence was inspired by Shakespeare’s own wife and mother, whose atypical authority can both be confidently assumed. Shakespeare’s mother, Mary Arden, very possibly had more sway in her relationship with Shakespeare’s father, John Shakespeare, because before their marriage, Mary was in a higher social class than John, as her father was a gentleman farmer (Andrews). Thus she was not entirely reliant on her husband. As