Essay on Canterbury Tales: Wifes Tale

Sir Launcelot goes on a search for adventure with his nephew Sir Lyonel. When they're on their way to find adventure, Launcelot gets really tired and decides to sleep under an apple tree. While he is sleeping three knights pass by while being pursued by a fourth knight the fourth knight knocked the three knights off of their horses. Sir Lyonel rode off to follow the fourth knight leaving Launcelot sleeping. He then challenged the knight and the Lyonel lost, the knight took him as a prisoner. the knights name was Sir tarquine he led Lyonel with the other three knights to his castle where he threw them in the ground, stripped them and beat them with thorn twigs. After that he threw them in the dungeon

The knight shows his true chivric colors by saying “My lady and my love, my dearest wife, I leave the matter to your wise decision.” (406-407) By allowing his wife to chose for him he displays true chivalry. He is also allowing to choose what she wants for her husband; this is a recall to the answer she gave him to save his life.

Two conflicting disciplines are prevalent throughout Arthurian Legend; that of chivalry and that of courtly love. The ideal of each clash throughout the medieval tales, and it is impossible to interfuse the two models for society. Chivalry is a masculine code, an aggressive discipline, whereas courtly love is based upon women - their needs, wants, and desires. The consistent problem if Lancelot and Guinevere’s adulterous relationship in different tellings of the affair relates back to the differences presented in chivalric code and courtly love ideals.

“A couple of weeks ago, Guinevere and I shared supper at her cottage. We drank far too much mead and ate too little food. Before I knew it, I had her backed up against the wall, kissing her, and I had her skirts bunched up around her waist. I reached between her legs and touched her. I just kept moving my fingers in little circles and she seemed to enjoy it. She was, ah, aroused. Wet, I mean. After a few minutes of that, I pulled down her top and kissed her breasts and neck while I kept moving my fingers between her legs. She rubbed up against me, then she shook and gasped, loud. I kissed her nipples and they were hard…” Arthur’s ended his story abruptly and stopped walking. “Please tell me that’s

This woman, came all the way from her land in search for this man in my opinion is something that a man would instead do. She gives him gifts, “horse had been saddled,” “Lanval was richly served.” The woman tells him after confessing her love that he would lose her for good if he ever spoke of their love. Lanval, who you’d think would be a “Brave manly knight” has no problem being demanded and agrees.

The conventions of courtly love stem from the precise chivalric code of knights in the Middle Ages and passionate romances of European medieval folklore. Fantastic tales of dauntless knights and their fair damsels, often set in King Arthur’s kingdom

In relation to the matrimonies the widow had with her previous husband’s, the tale told by her on the pilgrimage to Canterbury was about how dominance played a key role in the outcome of the Knight and a Witch. A knight in the court of King Arthur committed the unspeakable crime of the rape on an unsuspecting young maiden by the side of the road. As a punishment, King

He meets a crone who tells him the answer and demands to marry him. He experiences a change of heart and grants the crone sovereignty to do as she chooses. Despite the knight committing a heinous crime, he has redeemed himself after completing his quest and marrying the crone. The knight has experienced a change of heart in the duration of

In a court filled with masculine men, beautiful ladies, and Christmas joy, a knight cloaked in the gift of magic, bursts in and vehemently questions the integrity of King Arthur’s Knights at the Round Table. Upon the entrance of the Green Knight into King Arthur’s court, the Green Knight established the grounds for questioning the Knight’s and King Arthur’s masculinity by inquiring for the man who ruled the castle. Therefore, establishing that he could only be concerned with dealing with the man holding the highest amount of power. With this, the Green Knight directly correlates power and the ideal of masculinity. His argument seeming to be that the most masculine man would also be the man holding

“And though so much distinguished, he was wise/ and in his bearing modest as a maid” (70-71). The Knight is admired by all because of his protection and respect for them.

Even within the Knights tale when the knight rapes the maiden does not make much sense. Essentially, the knight gets away from rape due to the aide of the Old Woman and it seems that the knight gets the best end of the spectrum – he gets away from the death penalty and magically ends up with an attractive woman – all from raping the maiden on impulse. In my opinion, the whole Knights tale is a failed attempt at delivering a message. The message is supposed to convey values of true nobility and being loyal with someone due to their personal virtues, but delivers the message in a way that implicitly supports the Knights rape by giving him the best end of the spectrum. Additionally, the whole knight’s tale is counterintuitive, as the knight himself even complained about the looks of the old woman but decides to stick it out since he really has no other option, which completely goes against the advice of the old woman.

The Canterbury Tales, begun in 1387 by Geoffrey Chaucer, are written in heroic couplets iambic pentameters, and consist of a series of twenty-four linked tales told by a group of superbly characterized pilgrims ranging from Knight to Plowman. The characters meet at an Inn, in London, before journeying to the shrine of St Thomas a Becket at Canterbury. The Wife of Bath is one of these characters. She bases both her tale and her prologue on marriage and brings humor and intrigue to the tales, as she is lively and very often crudely spoken. Her role as a dominant female contrasts greatly with the others in the tales, like the prim and proper Prioress represents the

In this tale, it is told that a knight, which overcomes lust to rape women, is to be punished by death for his sexual impulses. After given another chance by fulfilling a request of what women really want in love in a span of a year and a day, the knight makes a deal with an old lady as his last resort. “What thyng it is, that wommen moost desire. / Koude ye me wisse, I wolde wel quite youre hire. [...] /

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

Ambiguity acts as a catalyst for the dialogue between the author and audience within a story that evokes a certain feeling that arouses an immense interest in something that is not definitive. This purposely sparks the audience to dive into the depths of the text to crystallize the uncertainties, and as a result, contemplate the meaning of the uncertainty as well. Throughout The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer’s literary design, such character development and narrative, constantly appears to shift depending on the particular interpretation of the reading. This incites uncertainty for the reader as they attempt to firmly grasp the author’s true intention. Chaucer raises the question whether he was applauding or criticizing the Wife of Bath, which remains one of the permeating uncertainties from his tale for the reader to contemplate. By examining multiple literary techniques used in the final passage before her tale, we can see that the ending prologue passage acts as a mirror to the final passage of the Wife of Bath’s Tale to illustrate the connections between the Wife of Bath and the old woman from her tale. Chaucer purposely leaves the audience contemplating the meaning of the colloquial fairy tale with regards to the likelihood of the reality of the Wife of Bath character actually existing to act as a warning to the males of the time period. Through the lens of multiple literary techniques used to mirror the ending prologue and tale, it can be seen that Chaucer purposely leaves