Celeste Piano Period 3
Wife of Bath Essay January 4th, 2017
Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is the story of a large group of men and women going to Canterbury. Each of the travellers introduces themselves and tells an interesting tale during their journey. One of the travellers, the Wife of Bath shares her views on social relationships between men and women. There were many misogynistic literature pieces during this time period. However, the Wife of Bath, is a strong believer in female maistrie, control in the marriage. The Wife of Bath is a feminist, an expert on what she wants and she believes in female supremacy over husbands in marriage. She does not feel they can be equal partners in the relationship. Throughout …show more content…
She first says “A woman wise will strive continually to get herself loved, when she's not, you see. But since I had them wholly in my hand, and since to me they'd given all their land.” This is the first of the Wife's pronouncements about what a wise woman ought to do, or does. Most of these pronouncements are, like this one, concerned with teaching women how to place themselves in a position of greater power in a relationship. Here the Wife advises that it's always better to make a man fall in love with you so that you can use his love to gain power over him. She says “For half so brazen facedly can no man swear to his lying as a woman can. I say not this to wives who may be wise, except when they themselves do misadvise.” This is not the last time the Wife will refer to the anti feminist stereotype of women as expert liars. Her emphasis upon this is puzzling given her desire to make believable arguments. Doesn't her insistence that all women are great liars undermine her credibility a bit? She wants women to be strong and stand up for their rights against their …show more content…
But she learns that for her last two husbands are harder to control with her sexuality and power. She is a hardcore feminist and always knows what she wants from men. The Wife of Bath tells about the balancing of power between men and women. Both emotionally and physically, the control should be given to the wife. Which reveals the true meaning behind what she truly believes in her experience through her five
Wife of Bath Essay January 4th, 2017
Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is the story of a large group of men and women going to Canterbury. Each of the travellers introduces themselves and tells an interesting tale during their journey. One of the travellers, the Wife of Bath shares her views on social relationships between men and women. There were many misogynistic literature pieces during this time period. However, the Wife of Bath, is a strong believer in female maistrie, control in the marriage. The Wife of Bath is a feminist, an expert on what she wants and she believes in female supremacy over husbands in marriage. She does not feel they can be equal partners in the relationship. Throughout …show more content…
She first says “A woman wise will strive continually to get herself loved, when she's not, you see. But since I had them wholly in my hand, and since to me they'd given all their land.” This is the first of the Wife's pronouncements about what a wise woman ought to do, or does. Most of these pronouncements are, like this one, concerned with teaching women how to place themselves in a position of greater power in a relationship. Here the Wife advises that it's always better to make a man fall in love with you so that you can use his love to gain power over him. She says “For half so brazen facedly can no man swear to his lying as a woman can. I say not this to wives who may be wise, except when they themselves do misadvise.” This is not the last time the Wife will refer to the anti feminist stereotype of women as expert liars. Her emphasis upon this is puzzling given her desire to make believable arguments. Doesn't her insistence that all women are great liars undermine her credibility a bit? She wants women to be strong and stand up for their rights against their …show more content…
But she learns that for her last two husbands are harder to control with her sexuality and power. She is a hardcore feminist and always knows what she wants from men. The Wife of Bath tells about the balancing of power between men and women. Both emotionally and physically, the control should be given to the wife. Which reveals the true meaning behind what she truly believes in her experience through her five