A phallic symbol is an object that, by any stretch of the imagination, may be considered to resemble a penis in any way. The coulter is the first example of this in The Miller’s Tale. It is used as a tool for Absolon’s revenge in the storypoem, as he plans to use it to poke Alisoun in the arse. Instead, he ends up poking Nicholas in the behind, which is a clear metaphor for homoerotic or even homosexual behavior. This directly correlates to Nicholas using his “tool” to embarrass or insult John the carpenter by having sex with Alisoun. The “poker” that strongly resembles that of a penis can also resemble a sword, the primary weapon of this time. If we imagine for a minute that Absolon and Nicholas are both bearing arms (poker and penis) …show more content…
The main instance that the yonic symbol is displayed in the storypoem is in the form of the window that Alisoun, Nicholas, and Absolon all have encounters with. First, the window itself can physically be seen to represent the female genitalia. It is an open space with sides, which is generally the only requirement to slightly resemble a yonic symbol. Second, there are several instances of objects going in as well as going out of the window. While some are more obvious that other’s they are all sexual innuendo’s involving this yonic symbol. Absolon uses his coulter to attempt to stab Nicholas. The coulter represents Absolon’s genitalia, while the window can represent two separate ideas. One is that it represents Alisoun’s genitalia, and Absolon is symbolically having intercourse with her, because as we previously discussed he is unsuccessful and maybe unwilling to perform this role in the storypoem. This scenario would show the need for Absolon to attempt to perform because of the social constructs expected of a man in society. The second scenario is that the window is not a representation of Alisoun, but a representation of either Nicholas or Gervias. In this instance, Absolon is relieving sexual frustration that he has in him because of the lack of sexual satisfaction in his life. The phallic symbol and yonic symbol both play important roles in the understanding of …show more content…
It has to do with the interaction between Harry Bailey (the host) and Pilgrim Chaucer. Pilgrim Chaucer is called upon by the host to tell his tale, but in a way that was meant to ridicule pilgrim Chaucer. Harry Bailey says “This were a popet in an arm t’embrace/ For any womman; smal and fair of face/ He semeth, elvyssh by his contenaunce” (1891-1894). Bailey is essentially saying that Chaucer resembles a small doll for a woman to hug, with a face like a fairy (Williams 145). This is clearly an attempt to diminish Chaucer’s masculinity, to which Chaucer responds with politeness, rather than anger like many other Canterbury adventurers would have done. Instead, Chaucer intended to mock the host by telling a tale involving homosexuality and femininity in a male character. Although Harry Bailey does not realize this, Chaucer’s clever use of detail created a storypoem that satirizes romances and also mocks the host himself at the same time. Harry Bailey simply sees the tale as a “drasty” (dirty) and “lewd”, and insists he stops the tale at once. Although it seems like Pilgrim Chaucer is being clever, it is realistically the work of the author Chaucer for creating this opportunity of satire from
Another mysterious image Yusef writes is “A white vet's image floats closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine. I'm a window. He's lost his right arm inside the stone”. When he says a white vet's image floats closer to me, he could either be talking about the memory of a white man he served with or a white man walking closer to him at the wall. When the man's pale eyes look through Yusef's this could be that the man at the wall is not really looking at him but at the names on the wall, or that the eyes are looking through him because Yusef is watching him die in Vietnam as his soul is drifting away. Perhaps this is the Andrew Johnson and he lost his arm “in the stone” as in in the war and Yusef is speaking for him and other fallen heroes like a window. Also if it is a real man's reflection, maybe his pale eyes looking through Yusef's could be showing Yusef the same pain and hurt that they both went through in the war in the sense that Yusef becomes a window, by sharing the same hurt. Maybe this man really did not have an arm or maybe his reflection of his arm was just hiden in the wall. This symbolizes what
Symbol: The pomegranate tree and the pomegranate are symbolic because in earlier chapters of the book it symbolizes Amir and Hassan 's friendship, as they carve their names in it and sit under it. When Amir hits Hassan with the pomegranates and demands that he fight back, Hassan smashes a pomegranate against his own forehead, sacrificing himself again for Amir, but it signifies the end of their friendship as Amir cannot stand the way Hassan sacrifices himself for him and it builds the guilt in Amir.
Throughout the chapter Tomas Foster, the author of the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor consistently mentioned that symbolism was relative and it is different for each reader. There is no debate on whether something is a symbol or not because in most cases it is. Foster mentions that the meaning of the symbol differs between readers because each person has a different perspective on the story. He also presents the idea that if a symbol can be reduced to have meaning that it actually isn’t symbolism being used, but allegory. Foster presents that a symbol has multiple possible meanings and that it changes between literary work and even between reader. He states that if a person wants to figure out the meaning of a symbol they have to look deeper, use their previous knowledge, and question what is happening in order to crack the code on the meaning of the symbol. These are new ideas because most casual readers usually believe that symbols have one specific meaning in each novel. By having Foster say that there are a limitless amount of interpretations for a simple it blows the door wide open. Symbols are used throughout novels of all genres, and sometimes even ironically. Foster’s belief in the importance of intertextuality shines through throughout
The prologues that link the various Canterbury Tales shift effortlessly from ponderous drama to light comedy. The lamentable tale of Griselde gives way to the Host's complaint about his shrewish wife. This prologue
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are some of the most widely read and anthologized pieces of medieval poetry. These tales are generally celebrated and enjoyed because of the author’s use of wit and satire, as Chaucer often uses word play and characterization to deliver hard-hitting, yet entertaining truths about his time period. This is the case in “The Miller’s Tale,” which portrays the story of a carpenter with an adulterous wife and the shenanigans that take place during and after one of her affairs. After closely examining “Absalom’s Revenge,” the last section of this tale, it is clear to see that Chaucer uses language, puns, and other writing techniques to provide a commentary on the lewdness of some who lived during the Middle Ages.
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem The Canterbury Tales a young Chaucer tells of the people he meets on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas Beckett in Canterbury. One of the most vivacious characters on the pilgrimage is The Wife of Bath. Both the Wife of Bath’s prologue and tale share a common theme of a woman’s control in a relationship with a man. The Wife of Bath and the old hag in her tale share a similar perspective on what women want most in life. In the prologue and tale the reader is exposed to the idea that what women most desire in life is to have control over their husbands and lovers. This tale and its prologue are linked through the way that Dame Alice, the Wife of Bath, fashions the old hag in her tale after herself.
The next poetry example is “The Room of My Life” written by Anne Sexton yet again another poem that is filled with imagery, which is one of Anne Sexton’s trademarks. In this poem common household objects are used such as a typewriter, an ash tray, a knife etc. This is so the reader can visualize her living circumstances and also bring to life the objects meaning to her. Each one of these items has a special importance in Sexton’s daily life because after all she is representing the room of her life. The typewriter is a symbol used to represent her writing and her poetry, poetry became her outlet to express her struggles with depression “the forty-eight keys of the type writer each an eye ball that is never shut” (line 6-7). This is an expression, meaning Sexton is very passionate about her work and stays up late working tirelessly on her writing. The next symbol is an ash tray, “ash trays to cry into” (line 4). This could imply that Sexton
While on the way to venerate Saint Thomas Becket’s remains, the entertainment of Chaucer’s Canterbury pilgrims falls upon the requiting of stories between the different estates. However, this requiting quickly turns malicious, the Host’s simple proposition evolving into an aggressive show of social dominance that includes the boasting of both literal and metaphorical rape. The normalization (or, borderline reverence) of aggressive manliness contributes to the creation of both rape culture and compulsory heterosexuality. Consequently, when a man does not dominate a woman—or, does not use his masculinity to humiliate another man—he is seen as weak or effeminate, subsequently placing his sexuality under scrutiny. Such is the motive behind John and Aleyn’s rape of the miller’s wife and daughter—to make Symkin seem weak, and to gain a reputation of superior masculinity. Thus,
The first sign of symbolism in the story was when the girls first came into the A&P store. Updike wrote, “The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece. She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs”(Updike pg1). This was the first sign of symbolism used because; this quote gave the audience a visual of the way one of the women who came into the A&P store looked like. A person reading this story would had
In a society in which hierarchical structures determined the types of interactions between individuals of different classes, there would be limited opportunity for oppositional values and attitudes to directly engage. One of the distinct features of Geoffrey Chaucer’s work The Canterbury Tales is that the author creates a situation in which vastly different types of individuals can engage with one another. This illuminates their most polarizing differences and allows for their contradictory attitudes to engage. Under this pretense, Chaucer allows for the spirit of the carnivalesque to be contrasted with the religious and social structures to which it responds. This can be seen in the characters of the Wife of Bath and the Miller, and their respective stories, both displaying different incarnations of the carnivalesque, and their contraposition to the ideologies associated with Christianity. Amongst the hierarchical structures of their society, the carnivalesque attitudes of the Wife of Bath and the Miller allow for them to seize a freedom which might be denied to them by those in higher positions. This is
There are three women in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the prioress, the wife of Bath and the prostitute in the Shipman’s Tale. The prioress and the wife of Bath are the only ones of the three that have a fully developed part of the overall work. They are equal to the male characterizations; the prostitute is only minor player. Women are rarely mentioned in the other pilgrim’s tales. The wife of Bath and the Prioress are examples of strong medieval women. As Chaucer depicts them, they are a departure from the typical sinful daughters of Eve with the exception of the prostitute. The wife Dame Alisoun, and the prioress are both pious, successful females but they are still under the domain of men. Chaucer’s women are still part of the patriarchal world of the late middle ages.
Misogyny is not only visible in the Miller’s tale, but also in the Wife of Bath’s tale through the very superficial standards set for women by men. The old woman asks that the knight marries her in return for giving him the answer to the riddle and he reacts in disgust and horror, “‘...to take me as your wife…‘Alas and woe is me!...I am ugly and poor…my damnation! Alas, that any of my birth should ever be so foully disgraced!” (Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” 199-213). The knight is visibly distraught, using words such as “damnation” and “disgraced” when the old woman expresses her wish to marry him. He displays these emotions not because she wants to get married, but because she is ugly and poor. He is worried because an ugly wife will mar his reputation and is a poor reflection of him. This translates to the misogynistic society during the time period where women were seen as property to be shown off, rather than people who deserved respect. The recurring theme of misogyny in these two tales shows that Chaucer does not feel sympathy for the opposite gender, but instead belittles their plight.
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, an eclectic mix of people gathers together at Tabard Inn to begin a pilgrimage to Canterbury. In the General Prologue, the readers are introduced to each of these characters. Among the pilgrims are the provocative Wife of Bath and the meek Pardoner. These two characters both demonstrate sexuality, in very different ways. Chaucer uses the Wife and the Pardoner to examine sexuality in the medieval period.
Chaucer does not only the tale to show off his writing abilities -- it is not simply a display of his incredible versatility as an author. Chaucer uses this tale to contrast his anti-church sentiments within the Canterbury Tales; it shows his great respect for spiritual beliefs and benefits him in making his argument against the Church. In essence, Chaucer is clearly defending his anti-secular position by showing his reverence and devotion to spirituality; his problems lie with the Church, not the faith. While very well known for his sardonic criticism of the Church, he is less often acknowledged for his appreciation and respect for the religion itself.
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a collection of very well written stories with very complex characters. The most interesting characters are the female characters on their way to Canterbury with the rest of pilgrims as well as the women in the stories that the other pilgrims tell. Among these women, the most notable are Emily from the Knight’s Tale and The Wife of Bath. Both of these women, however different, appear to be strong, capable and self-ruling. In both cases, these women’s stories show Chaucer’s view on relationships with the opposite sex- that they will always be imbalanced, and that women are merely trophies to be won and displayed for all to see and, lastly, that subservience is equal to love.