Examine the role of sin (or transgression) in three texts that we have discussed in the latter half of this semester.
When reading The wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale and Hamlet I was able to see that sin was a very serious subject during that time, plays, stories and comedies were made explaining what a sin was and alerting people to be careful of committing a sin. Which make me remember how a long time ago during youth group we learned that the bible mentioned 667 sins, the whole group was amazed at how many were found, the person giving the devotional said that the reason the bible tells us what is a sin is to prevent us from doing them. A sin as it was taught to us is when a person commits and
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Of whom i have picked out the very best, for both their nether purse and money chest."(The wife of Bath’s 44-46) during that time people belief was that widows should not remarried but become nuns or stay single for the rest of their lifetime, something that did not sit well with Bath's wife which is when she turned to the bible to try and make a good argument on her case she cited the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman when Jesus met her by the well; Bath's wife said "Except i ask, why is the fifth man Was not a husband to the Samaritan? How many might she have in marriage yet I have never heard tell in all my age about this any number definite. (The wife of Bath's 21-24) Bath's wife argument was that if the bible did not mention an exact number of how many times she could be married then it meant that it was not a sin for her to do so. The wife of Bath's does sound like she was really a sinful and lustful woman specially when she says "I'll tell the truth; those husband that i had, Some three of them were good, and two were bad...So help me God, I laugh to remember How pitiful a night I made them labor! (The wife of Bath's 201-208) she saw marriage and sex as a business transaction. In this tale I was able to see that sin was really looked down on, which is probably why she felt the need to explain herself, when people heard this tale they
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
However, the Wife of Bath says she has her own interpretation of the Holy Scripture and God’s plan for her. She then goes on to say that men can only guess what Jesus meant when He told the Samaritan woman that her fifth husband was not her husband, and she asks exactly how many husbands she could have in a lifetime (20-23). The Wife of Bath goes on to say that God gave men and women instruments to use and the instruments are not just for urinating but for pleasure and procreation (134). The Wife of Bath says, “In wifehood I will use my instrument/As freely as my Maker has it sent./If I hold back, God bring me misery!/My spouse shall have it day and night, when he/Desires he may come forth and pay his debt./I'll have a husband--I'm not quitting yet--/And he will be my
The Wife of Bath pursued husbands in a way that did not benefit both sides of the marriage. She clearly admits that she does not show shame from having sexual relations with many different men, as she simply desires sex and riches from wealthy men. Medieval civilizations did not consider this behavior appropriate, as it conflicted with ideas of courtly love and God’s word. She states that, “I am dominated by the planet Venus in my senses, and my heart is dominated by the planet Mars” (Chaucer 626). This statement supports that her body and desires only seek pleasure, while her true soul remains conflicted, unable to truly love. At the end of each marriage she appears as the one who reigns victorious and still willing to remarry: “I boast of one thing for myself; in the end I had the better in every way” (430). The Wife does not have respect for her multiple wedded spouses, and would rather remain happy when they leave her than to flood herself with emotion of sadness.
The Wife of Bath begins the prologue to her tale by boasting of her experience in marriage. She has married five men already, and ignores the idea that this is a reproach to Christian principles. She is merely adhering to the Christian principle of "be fruitful and multiply." She cites the case of King Solomon, who had multiple wives, and tells the group that she welcomes the opportunity for her sixth husband. She also points out that Jesus never lays down a law about virginity, and essentially states that we have the parts for sex and should use them as such. The Pardoner objects to the Wife of Bath's musings on marriage, but she decides to tell
Paul’s letter to the Romans is known as one of his greatest theological works. It has been passed down for thousands of years and is still just as relevant today as it was in Paul’s time. How exactly is it relevant the modern day Christian may ask? What with its harsh language that includes strong sentences such as “the wages of sin is death” (6:23) and “the wrath of God” (1:18) one may say that the times have changed. Some may say that these issues in Paul’s time are acceptable in society today. Jesus is all loving not wrathful. What exactly is the Christian to think? The purpose of this short essay is to examine how the Book of Romans relates to the Christian in the twenty-first century and how it helps to shape his worldview.
The Wife of Bath is not only sexually driven but she is also money hungry. She has five husbands and of them all she only marries one for love. She believes that all of her husband’s have a debt to pay to her. “In bed they met their grief in fullest measure./There I would scold; I would not do their pleasure./Bed was a place where I would not abide/If I felt my husband’s arms across my side/Til he agreed to square accounts and pay,/And after that I’d let him have his way”(Chaucer, 1332). She uses this money to give to charity and if anyone gives more than her, they felt her wrath. She would “dry up all the charity in all of Bath” (Chaucer, 1317). She believes that a wife is entitled to have what her husband owes her. They are in debt to her and until this debt is paid they cannot have their way with her. The more money given the more she makes her man sweat. It is almost like he is rewarded for paying her. She is not only driven by money she is driven by her strong demeanor to stand up for her beliefs and values despite what others have to say.
The wife of baths tale takes place during a pilgrimage in the mid-14()0s, during such a time when not all women were ladies but being polite, noble and kind was fundamental at the time of this stories portrayment. The wife of bath's tale depicts a not so spoken element of a widowed women that's in an endless pursuit of pleasure. The first line of the first page states that "Experience, though no authority." Her many men she's wedded has given her a seasoning of knowledge that can't be learned from
Today I am going to talk a little bit about the Christian Worldview. Religion can be a highly debated subject depending on who you talk to and the environment you are in. With so many different types of religion in the world today it can get confusing where you may fit in. In this paper I will be exploring some of the important elements of one of the more well known religions in the Christian Worldview to help you to understand why they believe what they believe.
Paul’s letter to the Romans is of his greatest theological works, passed down for thousands of years and still as relevant today as it was in Paul’s time. How exactly is it relevant the modern Christian may ask? What with its harsh language that includes statements such as “the wages of sin is death” (6:23) and “the wrath of God” (1:18), one may say that current times have changed. Some may say that the issues Paul addresses are acceptable in today’s society. What exactly is the Christian to think? The purpose of this short essay is to examine how the Book of Romans relates to the Christian in the twenty-first century and how it helps to shape his worldview.
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,
The Wife of Bath uses bible verses in “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.” Further, she employs the verses as an outline of her life to find reason in God to justify her actions. Nevertheless, the purpose of the verses differs within each stanza of the poem. The Wife of Bath is a sexually promiscuous, lustful, and manipulative woman. She marries men one after the other as they get older and die. In order to combat and overthrow the speculation and criticism being thrust upon her by societal norms because of her marriages, the wife turns to specific bible passages to find reason in life and support for her actions (Article Myriad.com). When the wife is having sex quite frequently and with different men she is said to be fruitful and multiplying. According to the wife, this is what she is told to do in the bible passage, which she has misinterpreted. Ironically, The Wife of Bath is using a predominantly male dominated book to back up and support her reasons for women being equal to men (Article Myriad.com). Not only has she referred to the benefits of adultery through the bible, she has also attempted to undermine the power of men in the very same way she has attempted to prove that the genders are equal. From this, it can be interpreted that although the wife claims to be providing evidence for women being equal to men, she is actually saying that women are better than men. She misinterprets the readings of the bible and male written passages on purpose in order to suit her needs.
We must make our own decision on what we think sin is. We can look at what others say it could be or we can look to the Bible and ask the Lord what it is. I think it is also different for everyone. There are however some things that are a standard for everyone. These are specifically mentioned in the Bible. God gave us the Ten Commandments to follow and Jesus gave us two simple rules to follow. If we look at these we can
The Wife of Bath is a wealthy and elegant woman with extravagant, brand new clothing. She is from Bath, a key English cloth-making town in the Middle Ages, making her a talented seam stress. Before the wife begins her tale, she informs the audience about her life and personal experience on marriage, in a lengthy prologue. The Wife of Bath initiates her prologue by declaring that she has had five husbands, giving her enough experience to make her an expert on marriage. Numerous people have criticized her for having had many husbands, but she does not see anything immoral about it. Most people established negative views on her marriages, based on the interpretation of what Christ meant when he told a Samaritan woman that her fifth husband