The Wife Of Bath As A Feminist Analysis

The ideals of marriage have changed drastically throughout history, but then it all comes around as history repeats itself. In medieval times there were several texts about the contradictory ideas of reality and ideal life of women and marriage. Chaucer explicitly refutes the misogynistic ideals when the Wife of Bath argues her point using scripture, behaviors of women from his other tales in similarity to the Wife of Bath and detailed events throughout the prologue of the Wife’s roles in her marriages.

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.

The Wife of Bath 's Prologue and Tale is about female empowerment it shows strong protagonists. I believe Geoffrey Chaucer used The Wife of Bath’s Tale to advocate for feminism. Chaucer used a strong female character to expose female stereotypes. It was an oppressive time for women in male-dominated society. During the Middle Ages, Chaucer wrote from a woman’s point of view something that was not normal at that time. He set his feminist ideals through the characters of the Wife of Bath and the old woman. He used subtle methods like humor to show his ideals. During Chaucer’s time nobody was used to the idea of women being equal to men, this idea did not exist. Chaucer expressed his ideas in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale by being one of the first to understand and acknowledge a women’s struggle in society, through this tale he shows the difference between men and women and their positions of power. In the Wife of Bath’s Tale, feminism is showed by the knight recognizing and listening to his wife. Chaucer is a feminist for his time because he used humor to mask his unpopular ideas he used these characters to voice his opinions.

The structure of the Wife of Bath’s tale in which a story is told within the story itself and the knight’s character develops are key in the tale’s entertainment and telling of its moral. The tale begins with the reader learning of the knight’s predicament - he raped a woman and in order to save his life from the punishment of death he must answer the queen’s question of what it is that women desire most. After elaborating upon the knight’s travels in which he asks numerous women what they desire most, the Wife of Bath, as the narrator, asks, “By god, we women can keep no secret; witness Midas-do you want to hear the story?” (Chaucer, 185). The story then breaks away from the tale of the knight and instead tells of a man named Midas whose wife could not keep his secret of having donkey ears and ended up telling the river his secret. In the time period in which the novel takes place, this short divulsion served to further the moral value of the novel in telling that women cannot keep secrets, however, this is not a moral that would be honored today as women not being able to keep secrets is a stereotype and not a truth. The novel chronologically develops the knight’s character as he begins as a sinful man who had little value for women, and ends as the ideal husband by allowing his wife to control his decisions. Moreover, the knight’s first actions are rather evil: “...despite her resistance, he ravished her” (Chaucer, 184). As the knight comes to learn that women desire to

Chaucer’s Wife of Bath gives the reader a glimpse into the world of medieval women and at the same time is a commentary on Chaucer’s view of deficiencies of his world. In the Knight’s Tale, the reader sees a resistance to the rights of women, typical of the medieval period and in the Wife’s Tale there is a peek at the beginning of the sovereignty of women of their own

The story the Wife of Bath tells is of a knight who rapes a young lady and subsequently is condemned to death by King Arthur. Chaucer then satirizes the male patriarchy by having the queen take ability to pass judgement on the knight, not King Arthur. This exhibits the power of women over men. This act foreshadows the course of events, manifesting the knight as merely a puppet on a string. The queen gives the knight the choice between a year long quest or to be put to death. The quest the knight must complete is to find what women most desire by the end of the year or he will put to death, “I’ll grant you life if you can tell to me / What thing it is that women most desire. / Be wise, and keep you neck from iron dire!” (Chaucer 910-912). With one of the

The Wife of Bath’s Tale features a character that seemed to resemble a feminist. But in Chaucer’s time, feminism was thought to be abnormal and the pilgrims

Throughout the medieval time period, respect towards woman was basically nonexistent. Women were either treated as objects and controlled by the men in their lives. On the other side of the spectrum, women demanded all the control in relationship. There was no real nice balance of power and respect in any of the stories, except The Franklin’s Tale. Misogyny was extremely prevalent during the medieval time period because men either felt like they were entitled to treating women like objects or felt emasculated by the women who demanded the control in the relationship.

Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale” in The Canterbury Tales appears to be an illustration of feminism, one that showcases a female character’s progression in power in a primarily patriarchal society. However, beneath the simplistic plot of women’s empowerment, lies underlying themes of antifeminism in the character, Alison of Bath. Alison endorses the misogynistic role which she is fighting against with the objectification of her own body, her misinterpreted dictations of religion, and her fascination of sovereignty and dominance. Although Alison sees herself as a feminist, it is unlikely that men in the middle ages saw her the same way. She embodies the stereotypes of women in medieval literature; lustful, irrational, domineering, and a danger to a man’s salvation. Throughout the prologue and the tale, there are inconsistencies with what Alison preaches and how she behaves. That leads to the question, is Chaucer the forward-minded feminist he is often depicted as, or is Alison of Bath a mockery of the ideals of feminism and an illustration of what men thought of women at the time?

“The Tale of the Wife of Bath” tells the story of wandering knight who violently rapes a maiden and is miraculously given a second chance. An old enchantress gives him life-saving advice in return for his hand in marriage. Because the sight of geriatric flesh repulses him, she gives him an ultimatum to which he magically has the right answer leading to happy ending, for him and the crone, not the maiden. While the moral of “The Tale of the Wife of Bath” is feminist, as in a woman has autonomy, the message is conveyed in highly misogynistic and chauvinistic undertones.

Medieval societies were, without a doubt, patriarchal. Although the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale provides a unique fictional account that seems to go against the norm of the time, it actually—to a certain extent—accurately illustrates the way in which the patriarchal society affects the relationship between men and women. In both the prologue and the tale, what modern day readers would consider as “abusive” and “despicable” men are present in the story; Jankin both physically and verbally abused Alisoun, and the Knight raped a woman. Both were, in the end, given a second chance and forgiven once they gave up their misogynistic ways and allowed for the women to have “maistrie.” This is a feat that would not have been as easily accomplished in modern days, as the

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

“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is a short story taken from a larger narrative written by Geoffrey Chaucer called the Canterbury Tales in 1478. It tells of a knight who rapes a girl and, in order to win back his freedom, is forced to find what “all women want”. Though the tale has points in which it displays feminist ideas, the story is ultimately is a parody that exhibits poor female characters and relies on an unjust and sexist backbone to advance the plot. Some would argue that for it’s time, this story would have been a good example of feminism since it was a much less voiced or practiced concept at the time, and there was strikingly less equality. Though it’s true that times were much different, there were still feminists and strong women

Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" is a medieval legend that paints a portrait of strong women finding love and themselves in the direst of situations. It is presented to the modern day reader as an early tale of feminism showcasing the ways a female character gains power within a repressive, patriarchal society. Underneath the simplistic plot of female empowerment lies an underbelly of anti-feminism. Sometimes this is presented blatantly to the reader, such as the case of Janekin's reading aloud from "The Book of Wikked Wives" (The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale 691). However, there are many other instances of anti-feminism that may not scream so loudly to the reader. This

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.