In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” and Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” there are both similarities and differences in regards to gender. The representation of Marvell’s speaker as a male who uses his persistent, manipulative nature outlines his disrespect towards women, and their coyness towards sexuality. Chaucer’s uses of a female as his poems lead challenges the expected female standards of her time; not only is his female character outwardly sexual, but she uses it to manipulate and gain power over her male counterparts. Marvell challenges the dominant male role in a relationship through the manipulation of female sexuality and the bible in order to justify that sexuality. In Geoffrey Chaucer and Andrew Marvell’s
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In doing so, they display the disrespect, and lack of respect, for the respective genders. Firstly, Marvell outlines both the manipulation of the female sexuality and the manipulation of time throughout the poem, “To His Coy Mistress.” In doing so, he lacks respect in the praise of anything but her physical beauty. He takes this manipulation further when he threatens her with the idea that her “beauty shall no more be found” (Marvell, 25). He manipulates this woman with the selfish goal to get her to share “pleasures” (ibid, 43) with him as if they were “birds of prey” (ibid, 38). These ideas are similar to Chaucer’s poem, only with “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale” the main character’s genders are switched. Here, there is a focus on the wife and her experiences with the male gender. She, also, manipulates the male counterparts in her life when she greatly focuses on how all five of her husband’s sexually please her. She specifically outlines how the male’s anatomy is there for her, and as Marvell’s male character did, she disrespects the male gender through her focus on her husband’s worth to strictly being their physical sex. Both Chaucer and Marvell use this focus on their gender counterpart’s sex to gain control over them; Marvell, to gain sexual control, and Chaucer to gain power and justification of her actions. Contrastingly, Marvell emphasizes on the manipulation of time over his mistress, while Chaucer puts more emphasis on the manipulation of truth. Not only does Marvell focus on present time, but also future time, as well. He does so in attempt to gain power and sex over his mistress, which outlines his disrespect for her coyness towards him. Chaucer, instead, focuses on the wife’s intent focus on the lies in which she tells the men in her life to gain power over them. This disrespects them since she would
In doing so, they display the disrespect, and lack of respect, for the respective genders. Firstly, Marvell outlines both the manipulation of the female sexuality and the manipulation of time throughout the poem, “To His Coy Mistress.” In doing so, he lacks respect in the praise of anything but her physical beauty. He takes this manipulation further when he threatens her with the idea that her “beauty shall no more be found” (Marvell, 25). He manipulates this woman with the selfish goal to get her to share “pleasures” (ibid, 43) with him as if they were “birds of prey” (ibid, 38). These ideas are similar to Chaucer’s poem, only with “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale” the main character’s genders are switched. Here, there is a focus on the wife and her experiences with the male gender. She, also, manipulates the male counterparts in her life when she greatly focuses on how all five of her husband’s sexually please her. She specifically outlines how the male’s anatomy is there for her, and as Marvell’s male character did, she disrespects the male gender through her focus on her husband’s worth to strictly being their physical sex. Both Chaucer and Marvell use this focus on their gender counterpart’s sex to gain control over them; Marvell, to gain sexual control, and Chaucer to gain power and justification of her actions. Contrastingly, Marvell emphasizes on the manipulation of time over his mistress, while Chaucer puts more emphasis on the manipulation of truth. Not only does Marvell focus on present time, but also future time, as well. He does so in attempt to gain power and sex over his mistress, which outlines his disrespect for her coyness towards him. Chaucer, instead, focuses on the wife’s intent focus on the lies in which she tells the men in her life to gain power over them. This disrespects them since she would