The Wife of Bath Prologue
As I was introduced to the most impressive and provocative English pilgrim that ever existed in the land of literature make-believe, I couldn’t help but pondered the question of what precisely was the inspiration behind this powerful and dynamic creature that came to life before me like none other. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is a beautifully written fourteenth century novel containing over 20 captivating stories, all recorded from the different perspectives of various and fascinating pilgrims. The individual pilgrims come from a wide variety of social and economic status and backgrounds, both male and female. Females within the fourteenth century were oppressed and typically assigned only to two different …show more content…
(Chaucer 264)
After having lifted my own jaw off the ground, I questioned what it would have been like, as a woman, to read this excerpt from Chaucer’s poetry when it was first written in the 1300’s, but then I realized, as a woman, I probably would not have been able to read Chaucer’s work because I, more than likely, would have been illiterate.
Alison speaks of her multiple husbands like they were simply hobbies or conquests, a way to get riches and she is completely unapologetic for that. She is so shockingly open about her sexuality and claims to enjoy sex and uses her feminine wiles to control said husbands. The complete opposite of what was commonly believed back then, that women, on the contrary, did not enjoy sex and men used it to control them. She sees nothing wrong with her self-proclaimed promiscuity, as well as her brutality towards the patriarchy, and why should she, really.
Alison is not only independent and brutal, she is also an intelligent and educated woman. She possessed extensive biblical knowledge, using quotes and claims from the Bible to back up her own ideas as stated in this excerpt from The Wife of Bath’s Prologue: I know that Abraham was a holy man
And Jacob too- I speak as best I
As I was introduced to the most impressive and provocative English pilgrim that ever existed in the land of literature make-believe, I couldn’t help but pondered the question of what precisely was the inspiration behind this powerful and dynamic creature that came to life before me like none other. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is a beautifully written fourteenth century novel containing over 20 captivating stories, all recorded from the different perspectives of various and fascinating pilgrims. The individual pilgrims come from a wide variety of social and economic status and backgrounds, both male and female. Females within the fourteenth century were oppressed and typically assigned only to two different …show more content…
(Chaucer 264)
After having lifted my own jaw off the ground, I questioned what it would have been like, as a woman, to read this excerpt from Chaucer’s poetry when it was first written in the 1300’s, but then I realized, as a woman, I probably would not have been able to read Chaucer’s work because I, more than likely, would have been illiterate.
Alison speaks of her multiple husbands like they were simply hobbies or conquests, a way to get riches and she is completely unapologetic for that. She is so shockingly open about her sexuality and claims to enjoy sex and uses her feminine wiles to control said husbands. The complete opposite of what was commonly believed back then, that women, on the contrary, did not enjoy sex and men used it to control them. She sees nothing wrong with her self-proclaimed promiscuity, as well as her brutality towards the patriarchy, and why should she, really.
Alison is not only independent and brutal, she is also an intelligent and educated woman. She possessed extensive biblical knowledge, using quotes and claims from the Bible to back up her own ideas as stated in this excerpt from The Wife of Bath’s Prologue: I know that Abraham was a holy man
And Jacob too- I speak as best I