Inferno, written by Dante Alighieri, explains the layout of Hell according to Dante himself. There are many circles and rings that house sinners based on the type and severity of their sins. Achilles, Brutus, and Attila the Hun are a few of the well-known figures mentioned during Dante's journey through Hell. The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a compiled collection of the tales of 29 people embarking on a pilgrimage. One of the people, the Wife of Bath, is purposely made to stand out during the General Prologue. During both the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, there are characters that would have a place in Dante’s Inferno because of the sins they commit throughout the story. Three obvious characters that would deserve a place in Inferno are the Wife of Bath, the Wife of Bath’s fourth and fifth husbands, the Pardoner, and the Knight.
In Chaucer’s General Prologue, he describes the Wife of Bath as a woman with sexually suggestive features who is self-confident, dominant, and a devout traveler. She has married five different times which reveals her true nature towards men and the concept of love. Solomon, Abraham, and Jacob are used as examples of people in the Old Testament that married more than once. The phrase “go forth and …show more content…
Knights of the time of the tale were honorable, respected, and expected to do what was right. However, the Knight in the Wife of Bath’s Tale was found guilty of raping a young maiden who was walking alone. This sin single-handedly would be enough to place him in the First Ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell. This is where those who were violent against their neighbors are housed and face punishment by boiling in the blood that they created through their life of violence. In addition, the Knight could also be placed in the same area of Hell as the Wife of Bath due to his lustful
In Chaucer’s General Prologue, he describes the Wife of Bath as a woman with sexually suggestive features who is self-confident, dominant, and a devout traveler. She has married five different times which reveals her true nature towards men and the concept of love. Solomon, Abraham, and Jacob are used as examples of people in the Old Testament that married more than once. The phrase “go forth and …show more content…
Knights of the time of the tale were honorable, respected, and expected to do what was right. However, the Knight in the Wife of Bath’s Tale was found guilty of raping a young maiden who was walking alone. This sin single-handedly would be enough to place him in the First Ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell. This is where those who were violent against their neighbors are housed and face punishment by boiling in the blood that they created through their life of violence. In addition, the Knight could also be placed in the same area of Hell as the Wife of Bath due to his lustful