Alison In The Canterbury Tales

Feminists today are viewed as raging, man-hating bitches, but feminism in its true sense simply advocates women’s rights. While there are extremes on either side of the scale, most feminists fight

The Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales is a figure that is better known than some of the others. Why is this? Many people believe it is because she is a sort of personified feminism; the sort Chaucer experienced in his day. In this essay we will explore and interpret different aspects of and her tale to identify why she appears to be a feminist icon and why this is a fair depiction for early feminism and modern “third wave” feminism that we see now but so not so much so for other forms of feminism.

In "The Miller's Tale," the character of Alison is introduced as the 18-year-old wife of a carpenter who is much older than the woman. The author's description of the young wife seems to suggest that she was so wild, beautiful, and desirable that the old man had a difficult time containing his jealousy.

Many literary critics throughout the years have labeled the Wife of Bath, the "gap-toothed (23)" character of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, a feminist. She is a strong-willed and dominant woman who gets what she wants when she wants it. However, this is not the definition of a feminist. A feminist is someone who believes that women and men are equal, while also is able to recognize and appreciate the unique characteristics of both sexes. A feminist celebrates what it means to be a woman, and a feminist is definitely not what Chaucer meant his character to be interpreted as. If anything, the Wife of Bath could safely be called a sexist. She constantly emphasizes the negative

Alison is consistently described as an animal about to be ravaged, “a piggesnye, For any lord to leggen in his bedde” (Chaucer, 2012, p.268) which tells us that animals are unable to control their lust so we assume Alison is unable to. Further animal references, “If she hadde been a mous, And he a cat, he wolde hire hente” (Chaucer, 2012, p.269) and “As any wesele hir body gent and small” (Chaucer, 2012, p.267) the metaphors here turn Alison into an object that is meant to be ravaged by the men around her, rather than a person who makes her own decisions. Alison’s character borrows a lot from misogynistic stereotypes about women, which are seen as liars and cheats. The interesting thing is that although she is being compared to animals, she is being compared to the animals that are attacked by predators even though when you usually describe someone as an animal it’s usually very powerful and lustful such a lion and not as a mouse and weasel, almost implying that the representation of women can be either be seen as powerful or weak, in this case it depicts Alison, and more importantly the representation of women as a whole to be weak characters which are overpowered by

The Wife of Bath’s Tale features a character that seemed to resemble a feminist. But in Chaucer’s time, feminism was thought to be abnormal and the pilgrims

The investigation into whether or not Geoffrey Chaucer was ahead of his time in terms of his views on feminism has been up for debate for hundreds of years. The Wife of Bath’s Prologue is just one solitary

Through the character of Dame Alison or the Wife of Bath, Chaucer, refutes the long tradition of anti-feminist literature written by men in the past, for the following reasons. First, at all, Dame Alison or wife of Bath, expressed her feminist’s points of view about love and marriage in front of mostly male audience by telling her personal experiences. She talks about things considered taboo for most of the woman and men since that they are going into Pilgrimage. For example, talking about sex and virginity for woman, she mentioned in the wife of Bath Prologue that if God give a command about stayed virgin, he will never talk about getting married otherwise how virgins will bring more virgin, also she mentioned that St. Paul recommend women

Firstly, Feminism is a conflict theory that believes that all religions are instruments set up by men to oppress women with the set of beliefs and practices. There are many different branches of feminism; the ones being evaluated are called Liberal, Radical and Marxist feminists. Feminists believe that society is malestream and not mainstream as people believe. The first main flaw in feminist theory is the fact that feminists only examine society from the viewpoint of women, they do this because they believe they are in fact helping fight against the oppression of women but the problem is that they do not examine the views of many male counterparts and therefore cannot help us completely understand our society. The main differentiation between the different feminist theories is the way that the oppression against women is caused.

Often, the most memorable female characters are those who break out of the stereotypical “good wife” mold. When an author uses this technique effectively, the woman often carries the story. In Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, he portrays the Wife of Bath, Alison, as a woman who bucks the tradition of her times with her brashness and desire for control. Chaucer effectively presents a woman's point of view and evokes some sympathy for her.

Among all these different kind of feminism, a single political agenda binds them together, a common purpose; gender equality. Like most things, there are misconceptions about certain subjects. For example the media tends to focus on feminist extremist, and (knowingly or unknowingly) perpetuates the stereotype that feminists hate men, and that their agenda includes the eventual societal elevation above men. Nothing could be further from the truth since the actual definition of feminism is, “The advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). Here we see that it is not a competition to the top of the pyramid, rather it is an effort to join the sexes in equality. The problem that arises from the definition is the lack of explanation of the methods, and ideologies, and that is breeding ground for speculation and therefore misconceptions. The solution to this problem is simple; we must acknowledge that there are different methods employed by different women to reach equality.

Feminism has a rich history dating back as long as the written word. Even before what is classically known as the ‘first wave’ of feminism, works on gender equality were being published (although

In the 21st century, many women have been successful because of feminism. Women empowerment in our current time is a lot strong than in the Medieval period, but it is still weak. In “The Canterbury Tales” by Chaucer it represents strong feminist characters in, “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale”. The characters such as a Wife of Bath, an old hag, and also a Queen from “Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale,” play a feminist character in the male-dominated society during that time. Through these three characters, we see strong examples of feminism.

To admit or to label oneself as a feminist is to accept a whirlwind of judgment from those around you. It is without a doubt that the word “Feminism” or “Feminist” turns heads, and not necessarily for the right reasons. Many have resorted to mocking, disagreeing, and/or hating Feminism without even having a good grasp of what it is. The stigmas that feminists face are that they are radical, extremist, liberal, lesbians who hate men, refuse to shave and enjoy burning bras (Lee).Conversely, feminists are principally advocates for social justice and equality as well as aim for the establishment of equally divided power between the sexes. It is obvious that many are unaware of and uneducated on the misogynistic injustices plaguing our world and the toxic environment we all live in- both women and men. Feminism is a positive concept that works to eliminate injustices between both sexes and to establish the value of women, thus should be treated as such a concept instead of being a forbidden idea.

In our world today, feminism has become a recent topic of interest, being discussed all over social media, as well as being represented by various celebrity advocates for the movement. There is such a negative connotation with feminism, and this negative connotation more often than not comes from those who have refused to “come closer” to feminism.1 Because if you take a closer look, it is not all about women who despise men, or the victimization of women. By definition, feminism is “the advocacy of women 's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” While that is an accurate description of what feminism is, in a larger context, it is a fight for gender equality. Feminism is a contribution