Canterbury Tales Gender Roles

The fact that this question still exists shows that the answer proves neither easy nor definitive. Women are diverse in their idea of what they want and what they desire to fulfill their needs. According to The Wife of Bath, she believes that women want mutual respect. Throughout history, women are portrayed as being the subordinate sex. Moreover, women live lives of being subservient to their male counterparts. The Wife of Bath felt the need to express the fact that there is an obvious problem with the balance of power within the marriage. Consequently, she set forth on a journey to confirm that women can be just as overbearing, domineering and cruel as men. She demanded to be heard.

The tale of the Wife of Bath has a fairy-tale structure. This structure is prevalent through the transformation of the old crone. The fairy-tale structure also exists when he kisses the old woman to turn her young. This Tale also has fable qualities because of the moral at the end of the Tale. The Wife of Bath ends the Tale with its moral: let Christ grant all women submissive husbands who sexually satisfy their wives. This tale shows the old crone's newfound beauty as a result of her independence and a physical display of her internal qualities. The theme of the Wife of Bath's Tale is not female equality in marriage, but the power struggles between the husband and wife. She does not seek an equal partnership with a husband, but a situation in which she has control over her spouse. The Wife of Bath even indicates that it is only in a marriage where the wife has control over her husband, that true happiness can be attained. An example of this occurs when Jankin tries to show power over her and to reestablish her dominance she controls him through guilt. From this point, the Wife of Bath was the dominant partner in the marriage.

Even within the first couple of sentences, the style and wording creates an atmosphere in which the male character is highly promoted and recognized. “…kings who rules them had courage and greatness … that was one good king” (Heaney 1-11). The reader easily gets the impression that man in this society is great, prestigious and brave. In contrast to the absence of women in Beowulf, “The Wife of Bath’s” acts as a public exhibition and explicitly shows how modern the Wife of Bath is in medieval times. Firstly, unlike Beowulf, the wife, herself narrates the story to the reader. She is absolutely not missing from the story, rather she is the one who leads the story, she is in the heart of the story. Therefore, the story itself is created in the basis of a woman

that he never went to hell (272). She clearly valued sex as the most important attribute of a husband for, “…in our bed he was so fresh and gay….Heaven knows whenever he wanted it- my belle chose-, thought he had beaten me in every bone…”(272) Even though her final husband had beaten her, because he was good in bed with her she felt she loved him the best of them all (272). Clearly, The Wife of Bath valued three things in her marriages, sex, power, and money. In her tale we find that power is an important role to women in marriage. A knight, after raping a women is spared by a queen (282) but in order to save his life, he has one year (283) to find, “What is the thing that women most desire”(282)? After searching, he finds no answer but on his way home finds an old women who promises she will save him, he must promise to do what she asks of him after however, and he agrees (285). When he and the old lady meet with the queen, he exclaimed, “A women want’s the self-sovereignty over her husband as over her lover, and master him; he must not be above her” (286). This answer is perfectly inline with The Wife of Baths views, she always wants to be more powerful than her husband. When the old lady says he must marry her, he protests but soon she offers him two choices, he can have her be old and ugly till she dies, but loyal, or she can be young and pretty and take chance that she might not remain faithful (291). He gives his answer to be that she may choose, thus giving her the

The wife of bath stands up for women equality and does not let men push her around. She had five husbands, with each of them she used a technique to get what she wanted. She would blame them for things they did not do, she would make them buy her things and have complete mastery over all of them. With her fifth husband things become rocky with her having the upper hand in the relationship. This is shown through the book that her husband reads which in that book degrades women. She snaps back into this mode of control and stands up for women by tearing the pages out of this book. The wife of bath thinks women should always have mastery in a marriage,this leads her to realize with her fifth husband women get taken for granted and have a bad

The wife of bath’s tale shows how the partriarchy plagued chilvary. It also shows the expectation women had in their relationships and how men were

The Wife of Bath thinks that the thing which women most desire is power over their husbands and in the prologue, she tells how she got the upper hand with each of them. She states, “bridle over to my hand, gave me the government of house and land, of tongue and fist, indeed of all he’d got” (280). The Wife of Bath has control over all her five husbands and is only happy when she has dominance over her partners. It is seen both in the tale and Wife of Bath’s prologue when kight returns to the castle and he states, “A women wants the self-same sovereignty* not be above her” (286). In both situations, power and sovereignty is the only topic being talked about and Wife of Bath thinks that the control of marriage should be given to the women, both financially and

The Wife of Bath’s Tale in the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a very pivotal point in the text. It argues in favor of feminine dominance in marriage in a time where women were always under the skeptical view. The leading example of the medieval skeptical view of women is St. Jerome’s response against Jovinian. It shows how women were more restricted than men and thought to be in the fault for the wrong things that happen to them. Chaucer opposes that stereotype by introducing the Wife of Bath, a very radical character just like the other characters in the Canterbury Tales. The Wife is a very outspoken feminist and justifies her decision to remarry four times. She uses St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and other arguments to undermine the traditional antifeminism arguments, such as St. Jerome’s, against her remarriages.

Within “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale,” the Wife also uses manipulation to forward her desires while conforming to the patriarchal societal

Elizabeth IniguezMrs. Alana HaughabooSenior English September 15, 2015Annotated Bibliography Shead, Jackie. " 'The wife of bath 's tale ' as self-revelation: Jackie Shead discusses how far the Wife 's Tale perpetuates the picture we have gained of her from her Prologue." The English Review 20.3 (2010): 35+. Literature Resource Center. Web. (SUMMARY) The story centers on marriage roles and powers. Men do not want to be governed by their wives. The knight lets the poor and unappealing lady decide for them. From the beginning of the story, it shows that women have a power in their marriage. (ASSESSMENT) This article was found in AVL. (REFLECTION) This article fits into the research paper because it deals with the role of a woman and want she wants. The source was helpful to me it helped me understand the story better. I could use this source describe how the women is the head of the marriage, even though she was old and unappealing. QUOTES: 1. The Tale therefore demonstrates from its beginnings a concern with female power and control over men, such as we see in the Wife 's Prologue. It is less interested in punishment of sexual transgression than with male submission to female witches. The quest, and its outcome, is a salutary lesson to males about not overriding women. This is further emphasized by the way the knight must seek help from females, who are defined, by the very nature of the quest, as 'the experts. 2. She used her body to control her husbands and to gain

Ironically, the Wife of Bath repeatedly chooses to be the less-than-humble wife and to carry on with questionable behavior, despite her religious knowledge. This shows a failure of her morality, certainly. In the context of the Middle Ages, her actions might have been shocking. But Chaucer, being ahead of his time, understands the difficulty of achieving social and economic advancement for a common woman. The other women in “The Prologue” to

Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales are considered a work of satire towards medieval society by many literary critics. Chaucer uses the Wife of Bath as a prime way to quip a key fourteenth century belief. During this era, medieval society is very hierarchal and hinders many people. One of the most notable groups that are restrained are women. The Wife of Bath is appalled by this. She is a progressive lady who implies that men are not in control of society. She infers that women are running everything from behind the curtain with men merely being used as puppets. As such, she narrates a tale that mocks male superiority and spouts a pro-women tale.

The female character in “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” and the “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is anything but submissive and has ideas that were controversial in the time period of how power should be distributed between the sexes. In “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue”, the wife boasts that she has an authority in regard to marriage as she has had five husbands during her lifetime. She explains how she used sexuality and skills of manipulation to gain power in her relationships and states, “I’ll have a husband--I'm not quitting yet , and he will be my debtor and my slave”(Chaucer 154-155). She explained that her older husbands were easy to handle as they would quickly cave to her wants rather than risk her tantrums on how women were not treating properly. Additionally, once her elder husbands died she would continue to benefit from them as she would be left with an estate substantial enough to ensure her comfort.

The Wife of Bath's greedy need for complete control over men reflects in most of her actions. She seems proud of this, and constantly describes women as cruel creatures that bring great sorrow to men. When talking about her first three husbands, she says that she "governed them" (193), and "chided them cruelly" (193). She makes life for her husbands a living hell, having no respect for their feelings. Just like the women questioned in her story, she cares only for "riches...amusement...rich apparel...," to be "flattered and pampered," and for "pleasure in bed" (225). When talking of her first three marriages, she says: "Since they had given me all their land, why should I take pains to please them, unless it be for my own profit and pleasure" (192). In her story, the moral is that all women want to hold the whip in a relationship, and it is in the man's best interest to let them do so. The Wife of Bath is not a woman to be admired and, worst of all, she insists all

This statement demonstrates that the role of women, such as The Wife of Bath’s, was to be a dominant leader of the marriage. She describes her husband as her slaves and debtor,