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Misogynistic Ideas In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

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In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath upholds the misogynistic ideas of her time. In “The Wife of Bath's Tale”, the reader learns that the Wife of Bath’s name is Alice. In her tale, the reader also learns that she has had five husbands. The Wife of Bath upholds the misogynistic idea of her time because she is very forthcoming about her sexuality and her relationships with her husbands. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath upholds this idea because she does not hide any details about her sexual actions and also adds her input about virginity so women were not supposed to be so open about these facts during the middle ages. The Wife of Bath talks about the virginity of women and her thoughts on …show more content…

She tells the Pilgrims how her husbands feel about her and how she feels about them: “They loved me so well, by God above / I took for granted all their love!” (243). She takes advantage of her husbands because they were old and wealthy, so she manipulates the men into marriage and waits for them to die so that she receives their moeny. She explains how she does not love them for them, but just for their money. She states how she does not care about anything as long as she receives what she wants: “He is too great niggard who would refuse / a man to light a candle at his lantern / he shall not miss the light, by God / If you have enough, you should not complain” (249). She uses her sexual power to obtain what she wishes. She does not have respect for any of her husbands because she does not truly love them, but uses them to wait until they die so she can have the money when they die. She withholds from them to ensure that she receives what she wants: “There would I scorn and give them no pleasure / I would no longer in the bed abide / If that I felt his arm over my side / Till he had paid his ransom unto me /” (253). She will not give her husbands anything sexual if she does not receive something that she wants from him. She ensures that if

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