The Wife of Bath's Tale

you think of a fairy tale, most people think of fairies and talking magical animals. However, not many people would think of "The Wife of Bath's Tale" by Geoffrey Chaucer. The "Wife of Bath's Tale" was written long ago in the 1380's. One of Geoffrey Chaucer's most famous works was The Canterbury Tales, which was a collection of stories told by pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. The pilgrims were to tell two stories, on the way there and on the way back. A free feast was to go to the pilgrim with the best story. One of the most interesting stories was the "Wife of Bath's Tale." In Chaucer's short tale, it features fairies, magic, king and queens. One characteristic of a fairy tale is that was set long ago, just like the "Wife of Bath's…

The Wife Of Bath’s Tale The wife of Bath’s Tale is a feminist tale being that in the 17th to the mid-20th century was a much harder time for women. In this time, society legally and physically restricted women in their life. These women who had no husband/ bread winner who faced abuse, rape and physical mistreatment were often ignored. Time and thoughts have changed since this slowly was written. We have to keep in mind that reading this tale we need to picture it and understand if we were in…

The major relationship between The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and the actual tale is that in both stories the women have dominance over their husbands, and whether coincidentally or not, the fifth husband and the knight have similar personalities. The fifth husband was abusive and had sexist and violent tendencies, much like the knight. Both characters had no respect for women in the beginning of their tales. But both men also realized that the only way they could be truly satisfied with their…

The Canterbury Tales gives the reader a brief series of tales that were told throughout the Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer. What most appeared to stick out was how power was established through some of these tales, but most particularly in the tale of The Wife of Bath. The Wife of Bath’s tale is narrated by the Wife Of Bath herself, a headstrong bold women. She expounded about good King Arthur’s days which became her tale. Power was used against others throughout the tales in unhealthy…

The class discussion that impacted my understanding of the reading the most was when we reviewed “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” from Canterbury Tales. After reading the tale, I settled on the idea that the knight had learned his lesson and deserved his happy ending with the beautiful young woman, despite his earlier transgressions. Once the class started debating whether or not the knight had learned his lesson or simply just told the old hag what she wanted to hear, I realized the knight not only…

In Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the audience is introduced to the Wife of Bath first by the narrator, but then discovers further about this character in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Directly following her prologue, the Wife of Bath begins to tell her tale about a knight and an old hag. As we read the Wife of Bath’s Tale, we start to notice there are some similarities between the two stories such as the women’s power over men, a few physical similarities, and then the similarities between…

changes in maistrie occur in The Wife of Bath's Tale, and what do these changes inmaistrie mean? Consider Arthur's giving maistrie to Guenevere, the rapist-knight's giving it to his hag-wife, and the hag-wife (in her beautiful form) returning it to the rapist-knight (perhaps immediatelyafter receiving it). The Exchange of Maistrie in The Wife of Bath’s Tale Within a modern marriage, there is a give and take relationship that allows for a successful relationship; both people have the power, or…

The Canterbury Tales is a story that shows the society of Medieval England. The story is a frame story, which means there are stories within the overlying story. The outer frame, or larger story, is about pilgrims preparing to travel to Canterbury. The inner frame, or smaller stories, are the tales told by the pilgrims on their journey. The Canterbury Tales is actually about the different stories set within the overarching tale of the pilgrimage. The Wife of Bath’s Tale tells a story which tries…

The Wife of Bath is trying to teach a lesson that even she has not learned. The knight thought that he could be in control of all women by raping a girl. She has been married five different times, while her last husband was the one she enjoyed the most. She enjoyed him more because he abused her and gave her a taste of her own medicine. She liked having someone that was just like her. She tries to show the knight that men depend on women more than he thinks. She showed him that in order to…

English Quarter 1 Paper Geoffrey Chaucer challenged the social norms of his time through the “Wife of Bath's Tale”, where he cleverly expressed his opinions on women and power. In his tale, he challenged the norms through the situations where he made women sovereign over men. This idea was prevalent when the knight was put before women who would judge his crime, when the old hag would give him the answer in return for his marriage, and ultimately when the knight allowed the old hag to choose…