Analysis Of John Donne 's The Wife Of Bath

    The Wife of Bath's extraordinary prologue gives the reader a dose of what is sometimes missing in early male-written literature: glimpses of female subjectivity. Women in medieval literature are often silent and passive, to the extent that cuckolding is often seen as something one man (the adulterer) does to another (the husband). Eve Sedgwick argues in Between Men that in many literary representations, women are playing pieces or playing fields in struggles between male players. By default it seems, male writers cannot help but create shallow constructions of women; heroism occurs in male spheres of activity, while the wives and daughters make the background, and

Regardless of personal beliefs or opinions, it is nearly impossible to imagine the existence of modern English literature without the influence of religion. Since the dawn of recorded history, religion has played a vital, recurring role in works of fact and fiction, alike. In his book How to Read Literature Like a Professor, author Thomas Foster asserts several points about this relationship between religion and literature, especially in relation to the image of Christ, and states, “Culture is so influenced by its dominant religious systems that whether a writer adheres to the beliefs or not, the values and principles of those religions will inevitably inform the literary work” (125).

Often at times people can feel disconnected from themselves, from the world, or even friends and families; Therefore, causing tension in relationships. Which was displayed in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” when the knight searches all over the world to find out what women most desire in a man. Also in “One Amazing Thing” there are various stories from different characters that have had trouble with personal stories and how one gender or religious belief can be more dominate than the other.

The Canterbury Tales depict many characters that, although fictionally created by Geoffrey Chaucer, may give the reader the opportunity to analyze and interpret their tales as a way of determining their personalities. The Wife of Bath and her prologue accurately supports this statement, as her intentions become expounded due to her questionable actions. The Wife of Bath exhibits in her prologue that she lacks respect and gratitude towards the men she beguiles into marriage and does so by falsely claiming direction from God. She shows not only deceit towards her many husbands, but also does not possess the ability to care about others before herself.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is an important part of his most famed work, The Canterbury Tales. One of the most respected highly analyzed of all of the tales, this particular one is important both for its character development and its prevailing themes. It seamlessly integrates ideas on society at that time with strong literary development. This work stands the test of time both because of its literary qualities and because of what it can teach us about the role of women in late Medieval society.

The Wife of Bath's crusade to prove the worth of women does open the prologue to modern interpretations that reconfigure the Wife of Bath as a feminist

The structure of the Wife of Bath’s tale in which a story is told within the story itself and the knight’s character develops are key in the tale’s entertainment and telling of its moral. The tale begins with the reader learning of the knight’s predicament - he raped a woman and in order to save his life from the punishment of death he must answer the queen’s question of what it is that women desire most. After elaborating upon the knight’s travels in which he asks numerous women what they desire most, the Wife of Bath, as the narrator, asks, “By god, we women can keep no secret; witness Midas-do you want to hear the story?” (Chaucer, 185). The story then breaks away from the tale of the knight and instead tells of a man named Midas whose wife could not keep his secret of having donkey ears and ended up telling the river his secret. In the time period in which the novel takes place, this short divulsion served to further the moral value of the novel in telling that women cannot keep secrets, however, this is not a moral that would be honored today as women not being able to keep secrets is a stereotype and not a truth. The novel chronologically develops the knight’s character as he begins as a sinful man who had little value for women, and ends as the ideal husband by allowing his wife to control his decisions. Moreover, the knight’s first actions are rather evil: “...despite her resistance, he ravished her” (Chaucer, 184). As the knight comes to learn that women desire to

“It seems that Judith gains strength enough to deliver death blows to Holofernes by naming her lord by his name (be naman nemnan; 81a) and identifying him as the Holy Trinity. Her incantation momentarily transforms Holofernes's tent into a Christian sphere: the holy maiden seizes "the heathen man" ([thorn]one hae[eth]enan mannan; 98b) by the hair; having struck "the heathen dog" ([thorn]one hae[eth]enan hund; 110a) for the second time, she not only makes his head roll onto the floor but sends his soul down to an underworld with an unmistakably Christian quality. The narrator evokes the image of Holofernes's body left in darkness for worms to feast on--a common Christian image, which nonetheless echoes with Germanic images in the poem: the earlier banquet scene where Holofernes is the feaster rather than the feasted on, and the later scene where the Bethulians leave the Assyrians' corpses for beasts of battle to consume” (290-96a). (Momma).

The Wife of Bath's Tale belongs to the second one, and deals with the subject of authority in married life. This story is unusual in the collection, since its prologue is longer than the actual tale. For the other tales, the prologue is a kind of introduction, but The Wife of Bath's Tale is more like a sequel to its prologue. The prologue is the autobiography of The Wife(Alyson), in which she tells us much about herself. She speaks directly from her experience of marrige, while her tale is an illustration of her theories. In the General Prologue we can learn about The Wife's physical appearance, her way of life, and her character, while Chaucer introduces hints, which he intends to extend later in the narrative.

During the time of Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale,” the male population was always looked to for power, security, and dominance. “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale,” is about a young woman who by the age of twelve, had already married five men. The wife, Alisoun, is continuously judged and looked down upon, however, her entire motive is to show equality in women and men. The struggle for equality for women is undoubtedly shown in great detail throughout, “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.” In the very beginning of the prologue, Alisoun tells of numerous individuals who are continuously judging her and looking down on her because they believe she has committed a sin by marrying multiple men.

     During the time period in which Chaucer wrote The Wife of Bath women were most commonly seen as prizes won by men. They were treated merely as objects of housework and sex. Although, women of Homer’s time period were not degraded as severely, both periods did not allow the due respect women should have received. The Wife of Bath is an exact antithesis of this view. The Wife of Bath, known as Alison, is the complete opposite of the typical woman of that time. In fact, she acts more like the husband in the marriage. She tells stories of how her first three husbands suffered greatly at her hands. Alison also goes on to describe how

The religious value is reflected through Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” through

Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale” focus on the story telling of a woman who has experienced her fair share of marital issues. She is depicted as a promiscuous woman, married five times and had plenty of male suitors, the Wife was not like any other woman during this era. Although her reputation was how most perceived her, she was not a fan of being scrutinized for what she considered as her duty as a woman; to not remain single. This is seen through the depiction of women in society, how marriage ought to be in the eyes of religion, and how men were to view a woman like her. The language that is used throughout Chaucer’s prologue and tale allude to the evolution of women as well as how they struggled to gain any recognition in

In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath seems to be one of the more cheerful characters on the pilgrimage. She has radical views about women and marriage in a time when women were expected to be passive toward men. There are many things consistent between The Wife of Bath's prologue and her tale. The most obvious similarity that clearly shows the comparison between the prologue and the tale is dominance of both women over their husbands.

‘The Dream of the Rood’ has been marveled as one of the finest religious poems from the Anglo-Saxon time period. The poem itself shows the contrast between the Pagan religion and Christianity and the overlap of religious symbols between them. It follows the crucifixion of Jesus and the dreamer’s journey to finding faith. The rood is seen as the backbone of the crucifixion and is depicted as being praised more than Christ. Using the literary devices of kenning and alliteration the author highlights the heroic nature of the rood, the dreamer’s gradual progression to optimism and the struggle of the people of the time to remove Pagan traditions in literature.