Comparison Of Guinevere And The Wife Of Bath

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, he introduces a character known as the Wife of Bath. It is her turn to tell the stories, and her tale begins discussing her past marriages in the prologue. Married five times, the Wife of Bath tells us about her own marital issues, and the way she was able to manipulate the gender roles to her own advantage. As interesting of a character as she is, I find Chaucer created the Wife of Bath to deliberately introduce the issues gender roles play in our society. I believe that the role the of the Wife of Bath in the tale was purposely written by Chaucer to twist the traditional gender roles of the time, satirizing how gender plays in society.

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 character is a woman who had married five times. Of these five husbands she only loved one. On line 195 of the story she stated, “As three of them were good and two were bad. The three men who were good were rich and old.” She did not marry them for love. She was 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 begins her prologue by explaining that she considers herself an authority of marriage due to her “experience”; the Wife of Bath says, "Experience, though no authority/Were in this world, would be enough for me/To speak of woe that married life affords;/For since I was twelve years of age, my lords,/Thanks be to God eternally alive,/Of husbands at the church door I've had five” (Lines 1-6). Due to her five marriages, she has often been criticized because others have said that Christ went “to a

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", in the collection of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, illustrates the stereotypical image of a women in medieval times ("The Portrayal of Gender in The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale.") The tale characterizes women as lustful and greedy burdens on men. However, to readers today, "The Wife of Bath" represents a strong minded feminist woman who is confident and open about her sexuality. Narrated by a character called Alisoun, "The Wife of Bath" reveals an insight to a woman’s point of view in medieval times. Alisoun begins her long prologue by declaring that she follows the rule of experience; announcing that she’s a self–proclaimed women. Throughout the her tale Alisoun questions and challenges the idea of power and authority in medieval society. Through Alisoun, Chaucer gives women a voice to express their call for equality and their need for power. By using description and characterization, Chaucer gives readers an insight to a society in which women are starting to express their desire to have power ultimately arguing that in order for men to be happy women need to have sovereignty in medieval times.

The wife of bath her beliefs and feeling about marriage are unusual for a woman of her time. She has a different point of view of marriage, and beliefs about it also. To defend her position her marriages and lusty lifestyle, while at the same time speaking of the "Wo that is in marriage". She was a different type of woman of her times she was married more than four times. She shaped up her four first husbands and getting the upper hand sovereignty over the old husband, where they gave the power of the marriage. She was very smart to make her first four husbands to get what she wanted by sex and her beautiful because the first 4 was older than she and they all leave everything to her. She was never really in love until the firth husband that she was truth

     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 prologue of this tale showed that the Wife of Bath was not seen as an upstanding woman, nor did she desire to be seen as one. She portrayed feminism, almost as soon as she began speaking in the prologue, she explained that she had gone through five husbands, and she was on the look out for a sixth. She also admitted that she married for money:

The Wife of Bath starts by explaining herself as “Experienced, though no authority”. She considers herself as experienced because since the age of twelve she’s been married but not with the same husband. She’s had five husbands throughout her lifetime. The reason why I think she’s been married so many times is because the men didn’t have what she wanted. They may have been good to her but they may have not met her needs. The Wife of Bath looks at life in a different way. God says women are supposed to make more life such as children. This may be another reason why she has had so many husbands. God try’s to explain to her “that only once in life” should she be wed. Instead of listening to God & taking his authority she ignores his authority. This is an example of her acting as if she as no authority. When explaining the Wife of Bath she can be explained as a knowledgeable person that’s does what she can do find happiness in a man that is wealthy,

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

for him to take her hand in marriage, with the promise that she will be

The Wife of the Bath begins her tale about discussing how she was married more than five times. At the age of 12, she was married for the first time, but this was not the only marriage she had to experience. It’s believed that she is not making meaningful choices between the men she chooses to marry. The wife of the bath perception exposes how her insecurities is why her purpose of a marriage is not applicable. Alyson’s physical appearance of having a gap between her teeth, and enjoying the desire of marriage and sex is what makes her an unique character. This woman is not a fool when being portrayed as the professional wife from the author’s perception of her. Alyson struggles within her past relationships expresses how she is not a typical interpretation of a feminist icon.

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,