Allie Stone
Dr. Hayes
Eng 317: Final Paper
May 12, 2017
The Clerk’s Retort to the Wife In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, the wife believes that women should have complete control over their husbands and that women should have dominance in their marriage. The Wife’s tale is somewhat of a story about feminism and how a woman determines her own happiness/life. It is easy to see how The Clerk’s Tale is a response to the Wife’s tale. In the beginning of the prologue we find out that the Clerk is repulsed by the tale of the wife. Clearly the Clerk and the Wife disagree on a woman’s place in a marriage. The Clerk tells a six part tale of a king and his wife and cruel tests he puts her through. In each part of the tale, the king’s demands get worse and …show more content…
The Wife’s tale is an extreme exaggeration of The Clerk is open about his feelings from the very beginning, he is called out for being quiet for most of the pilgrimage and that’s when he is asked to give his tale. Instead of giving his own experience of marriage like the Wife does, the Clerk tells a story that he heard from a “worthy clerk.” The clerk says this in order to make his tale sound more legit than the wife’s tale. Unlike her story, his tale is from a well respected clergyman who always tells the truth and gives his tale …show more content…
The prologue is quite long for this tale. The wife explains her thoughts about marriage and she calls out multiple clergymen for their hypocrisy. On multiple occasions in the prologue, the Wife says things about what a wise woman should do,
“A wys womman wol bisye hire evere in oon
To gete hire love, ye, ther as she hath noon.” (209-10)
This quote is great because it opens up the wife’s conversation about what a wise woman should do to better her stance in a marriage. It is no secret that the Wife believes that woman should place themselves as the one dominating the relationship. Ironically, the Wife also explains how women are great liars. She says some ludicrous things that discredit her whole spiel and proclamation, making it very hard to decipher whether or not she is a genius or just an old crazy woman who has been married multiple times. Whether or not she is a little off, she does say some profound things about women that were true at the time.
Thou seyst, som folk desiren us for
Dr. Hayes
Eng 317: Final Paper
May 12, 2017
The Clerk’s Retort to the Wife In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, the wife believes that women should have complete control over their husbands and that women should have dominance in their marriage. The Wife’s tale is somewhat of a story about feminism and how a woman determines her own happiness/life. It is easy to see how The Clerk’s Tale is a response to the Wife’s tale. In the beginning of the prologue we find out that the Clerk is repulsed by the tale of the wife. Clearly the Clerk and the Wife disagree on a woman’s place in a marriage. The Clerk tells a six part tale of a king and his wife and cruel tests he puts her through. In each part of the tale, the king’s demands get worse and …show more content…
The Wife’s tale is an extreme exaggeration of The Clerk is open about his feelings from the very beginning, he is called out for being quiet for most of the pilgrimage and that’s when he is asked to give his tale. Instead of giving his own experience of marriage like the Wife does, the Clerk tells a story that he heard from a “worthy clerk.” The clerk says this in order to make his tale sound more legit than the wife’s tale. Unlike her story, his tale is from a well respected clergyman who always tells the truth and gives his tale …show more content…
The prologue is quite long for this tale. The wife explains her thoughts about marriage and she calls out multiple clergymen for their hypocrisy. On multiple occasions in the prologue, the Wife says things about what a wise woman should do,
“A wys womman wol bisye hire evere in oon
To gete hire love, ye, ther as she hath noon.” (209-10)
This quote is great because it opens up the wife’s conversation about what a wise woman should do to better her stance in a marriage. It is no secret that the Wife believes that woman should place themselves as the one dominating the relationship. Ironically, the Wife also explains how women are great liars. She says some ludicrous things that discredit her whole spiel and proclamation, making it very hard to decipher whether or not she is a genius or just an old crazy woman who has been married multiple times. Whether or not she is a little off, she does say some profound things about women that were true at the time.
Thou seyst, som folk desiren us for