The Wife of Bath's prologue and The Wife of Bath's Tale, - Research Paper Example

? “The Wife of Bath's prologue" and "The Wife of Bath's Tale" enter the Number or College 18th December, 2011. Part. 1: Introduction Tales from Canterbury is a series of tales created by Geoffrey Chaucer in the fourteenth century. The text is written in Middle English. These stories are put together into a story "framework" and called by a group of pilgrims on their way to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket in the cathedral of Canterbury. In all 24 stories, the narrations are actually made by the pilgrims that seem far from the version originally planned. Chaucer expands the idea of the stories, current at the time, by placing it in the pilgrimage. This allows, for the variety of successive narrators, a wide range of themes, to address different audiences. As discussed below, it advises the reader to turn the page and choose another one if he does not like the current tale. The “Innkeeper” makes the connection by giving voice to one and then to the other hence, calming the mind and putting an end to strife. The author retains its spiritual meaning of the pilgrimage while showing his characters i.e. the pilgrims, in their earthly and human dimension; each different, and sometimes conflicting but all united in a common goal i.e. the shrine of Thomas Becket. From the progression of the story, the sequence of different stories, we can say that there is an analogy between the conduct of the pilgrimage and represents the Christian vision of humanity's march towards the heavenly Jerusalem (Carruthers, 1979, p. 209-222). There are wide varieties of genres represented in the tales: the novel of chivalry, fairy tale, lai Breton, fable, fable animal, mythological tale, new, life of saint, an allegory. Some thirty pilgrims from various sources collect in an inn in Southwark, leaving for Canterbury to pray at the tomb of Saint Thomas Becket. Part. 2: “The Wife of Bath's prologue" and "The Wife of Bath's Tale" The Wife of Bath's Tale is one of the stories from the sequence of tales in the “Tales from Canterbury”. The story begins with a prologue that presents a gallery of portraits of the pilgrims. 2.1: The widow In this tale, Chaucer (1987) depicts a widow who married five times since the age of 12 years. According to the strength of this experience she is able to speak knowingly of marriage. In a lengthy prologue to nearly 700, she recalls her successive marriages. By using many biblical references she argues about virginity which is not a necessary symbol of being a virtuous woman and essential for strong marriage. Moreover, according to the widow virginity is not essential to obey the divine command (Cooper, 1996, p.5-413). 2.2: Significance of virginity and her husbands The first page of The Tale of the Wife of Bath, in the Ellesmere manuscript, the concept and significance of virginity is questioned. As written by Chaucer (2011), "God said" Be fruitful and multiply" Noble words and easy to understand God said that my husband was Leave father and mother and clings to me, Never mention the number of marriages, Or bigamy or Ganesh So why see the infamy? ... Virginity is the perfect Which inspires devotion abstinence? Christ, yet the source of perfection, Did not order anyone To sell its goods to the poor In order to follow Him and imitate Him, But only those who seek perfection: I humbly confess of not being. I want to spend the prime of my age The works of flesh, fruit of marriage. ... I have nothing against virginity: The virgins are pure wheat bread, The barley bread we are the married women, ... " It comprises the theories about genitals, whose function is twofold: the useful and pleasant and the relationship between husband and wife i.e. between man and woman. The Wife of Bath is a strong woman who knows how to respect and get what she wants from her husband. She then tells what happened to each of her marriages and describes her life and experiences. The first three men whom she married were rich and old while the fourth one was reveler who had mistress and she gave him money. The third husband of her made her life hell. The fifth, "a clerk of Oxford, married for love not for money", who used to beat her and tell her about the duplicity and deception of women from many books in his library. "Who could imagine, design The pain he caused me, the pain? When I realized he would spend the night To read excerpts from his cursed book ... "(Chaucer, 2011) This is followed by a violent argument, torn books, and fisticuffs, ending with a reconciliation and peace in the household. 2.2: Beauty Vs Character Most of the prologue consists of an argument about the superiority of experience over the authority of texts, and this story can be seen as a refutation of the way women were described by the author who was the man of that time. Chaucer is close by the speech of Christine de Pisan. The Bourgeoisie then began his tale, which takes place in the old days of King Arthur. A defamed Knight is given a shot at redemption by the Queen. He needs to go on a quest to find out what most of the women want. The knight then starts looking for the answer but finds it nowhere. One talks about money, others of prestige, love, care and attention or be free to do as it pleases. Random of his quest, one day he finds a group of ladies who were dancing on the border of a wood. He comes close but lost all except an old woman sitting on the grass. He tells his story to the old woman and asks her the question, promising a reward if she could help him. The knight and the old lady agreed on the reward and then they both went to tell the answer to the queen. The knight answered the Queen that women wanted unshared power. All approve and agree with the response of the knight and said that he deserved to be saved. The old woman rose at that time and asked the Queen that she should make the knight marry her in exchange of the answer she provided him with to save his life. The old woman refused any bargaining and she would not give up her proposal for anything. The court represents justice hence the knight had to give in. Hence, the knight found himself convicted and married her. The knight was unwillingly to marry the woman but he had to do so as to keep up the justice of the court but he could not accept her and hence could not make love with her. The woman was ugly, old and of low birth. He then criticizes the notion of the nobility. According to his mindset, people are worthless unless accompanied by a noble conduct in all circumstances and have a good and noble ancestral background. The old woman insists on the nobility acquired by a virtuous and exemplary life, referring to Seneca, Boethius and Juvenal, saying that poverty, ugliness and age will be "good stewards of chastity." The old woman offered him a choice: either it is old and ugly, but faithful and true, or she turns into a beautiful but unfaithful woman. The knight thinks, sighs, and decides that he has no control over his life hence he accepts her. He embraces the old woman and kissed her as his wife. The old woman turns into a beautiful woman. 2.2: Significance of the “loathly lady” The loathly lady (literally "the disgusting lady") is a character often staged in medieval literature, including the best-known example is the tale of Geoffrey Chaucer, The Tale of the Wife of Bath (The Wife of Bath's Tale), taken from the Canterbury Tales. This theme of a hideous old woman, transformed into a young beauty with a kiss of love, is recurrent in Irish Celtic mythology and the Arthurian legend and to a lesser extent, in Norse mythology. The woman often symbolized the sovereignty of the country. The reluctant looking lady is a woman who requires a man to accept her with all what she is like, even though she has an ugly appearance. The action (kissing or marriage) reveals that this repulsive aspect was the result of a spell, just as broken. The presence of the loathly lady in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer was particularly intentional. In The Tale of the Wife of Bath, Lady Alice who is the Wife of Bath and is a capable woman who married five times since the age of twelve, tells the story of the loathly lady and a knight of the court of King Arthur. The knight was sentenced to death for the rape of a girl and could escape punishment only if he could accomplish the mission given to him by the Queen (Chaucer, 1987). The character of the loathly lady is an important one. As she is the one who is responsible for revealing the correct choice of women by men. The knight had to make her his wife in the story and without the marriage the rest of the story could not have been preceded. After marriage the hideous woman who is now the wife of the knight asked him to make a choice between a faithful wife and a beautiful but fickle wife. The knight leaves her the power to decide, and is satisfied and acknowledges the lady's supremacy. Ultimately, they lived happily ever after. Feminism in its evocation of the privileges of men, and the struggle for power within marriage, is represented here. The Tale of the Wife of Bath recalls the traditional link between the loathly lady and sovereignty as the ultimate desire of women, as she told the knight that women want unshared superiority which can also mean that women wants to rule over men. The tale ends with the request made in heaven, as written by (Chaucer, 2011), "That Jesus Christ sends us/husbands meek, young and vigorous in bed and I pray Jesus also to shorten the life/of those who do let point rule by their wives." The transformation of an ugly and repulsive character that is under a curse is a recurring theme in fairy tales. It is usually ordered to appear in the guise of an animal for example, the Beast in Beauty and the Beast and Pooh in The New Fairy Tales from the Comtesse de Segur. The repulsive character also takes the form of a dirty old man or an ugly old woman, before finding his true nature through a whole process of delivery, in general to pass tests or solve puzzles. In such appearances the person has to love the other despite his appearance. This is rather a deep theme that makes one love the other truly, without the “appearance” to come in between. The theme of the Belle is an example in this context that has to love a monster in. It is already present in the Metamorphoses of Apuleius in the tale Eros and Psyche as well (Rigby, 2000, p.133-165). 2.3: The lady as described by the author In the Wife of Bath’s tale, the lady had five husbands and among them three was good and two of them were bad. The three husbands were quite rich and they were bound to the lady. They used to do whatever the lady asked them to do but at last the lady found it useless. The lady did not make any effort to win their love. All of them loved the lady but the lady did not have any value of their love. A woman at the lady’s place would have attempted to win the love of her husband but in the case of this lady it seemed of no value. This lady wanted her husband to be with her and obey her and that was what she already had hence she did not need anything else. Moreover, she did not intend to please them. All she thought was about what’s profitable to her. In a sentence, it can be stated that the lady ruled her husbands’. The lady also spoke that she governed many men at Dunmow in Essex and all of them were blissful and they brought beautiful things for her. 2.4: Proto-feminism and patriarchy The lady of ‘The wife of Bath’ is a character shaped by the author who breaks the traditional stereotypical role of women and thinks about her as a free person. This writing of the author can also be taken in the perspective that the role of men is falsely upheld. Moreover, women as represented deceivers are did so in this writing as well. This makes one wonder about the attitude that the women are attached with for centuries. The wife of Bath’s prologue and the wife of Bath’s tale both draw the critiques from the long medieval antifeminist texts. According to Cooper (1996, p.5-413) the material is a part of the huge stock of antifeminism. The simplest fact is that the Alisoun who is the widow in the tale married multiple times and she suggests the relationship with traditions of antifeminism. The observations of Alisoun were the main element of the tale. Alisoun proved the proposition of Jovinianus false regarding the marriage and virginity. She noted that if Jovinianus had commanded virginity then God must have condemned marriage. Alisoun used God as a process of defense to prove her belief is significant. Alisoun embodies the beliefs of antifeminist but some ways she also resisted that. We can get some beliefs of antifeminism from the repeated marriage of Alisoun. We observe how she mocks the clerical teaching which concerns the multiple marriages of the widows. Carruthers (1979, pp. 209-222) stated that any rich widow is considered as a perfect match for a man of same standard rather than a good match with a virgin man. Alisoun illustrated this matter nicely by narrating her past which was about her marriages. She was also attracted to the men who were quite younger than her. She stated the name of the man as Jankyn. So, we can find that Alisoun portrayed the antifeminist beliefs with the help of her actions and thought but also attacked the beliefs too. There is another point that is nicely reflected by Cooper (1996, p.5-413) and Carruthers (1979, p. 209-222) according to which Alisoun did not behave to any of her husband the way she was supposed to behave. The authors also told about the right behavior. They compared and contrasted what should be the behavior of each and every wife throughout her life and the behavior of Alisoun. In an essay written by Carruthers (1979), the author outlines that how the young women should develop themselves as model wives. The author, Carruthers (1976, p. 209-222) also stated that how the behavior of Alisoun was as good as the model wives during the first marriage. By considering one example it can be clearer to us. Alisoun lied about her husband about getting drunk to the people. Some of her conversation and statements were also deplorable in nature. Carruthers (1976) also noted that how Alisoun used to do a good job by upholding her husband in front of public. The deportment books also state that any husband has the right to gain control over their wives as they are responsible for controlling the entire estates. But, the thing is totally different in the tale. Alisoun is a woman who used to control her five husbands. There might be various reasons for this. Three of her husbands’ whom she married first were very old and they did not have ability to look after their health. The attitude of her towards them is a reason of this dependability of theirs’. Cooper (1996, p.5-413) noted that the behavior after marriage is kind of a theme which has been emerged in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue. The author studied Alisoun’s attitude and her character throughout the tale and noted that her behavior is not exactly what should be. She also described it to Jankyn. In the prologue, Cooper (1996, p.5-413) also stated that the marriage of Alisoun and Jankyn is not considered as the ideal Christian marriage. Jankyn also did not show the kind of behavior he was supposed to show during his marriage. The life of Janky after his marriage can be compared with the life before his marriage and the shortness of experience is highly reflected in the character of Jankyn. The change has been occurred at end of the prologue just same as Alisoun. The failure to be conventional and do accepted things is evident in the behavior of Jankyn and Alisoun. The readers even can distinguish between the riught and wrong behaviours’ of theirs and the behaviours that are generally adapted by the people. That accepted behavior is totally opposite to what Jankyn and Alisoun show. Part. 3: Conclusion In Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s prologue” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” we encounter some interesting views of sex roles in Medieval England. Men are supposed to be superior than women and so we can observe this in the tale as well. The woman in the novel is a woman of substance who is seen to be superior and commanding rather than letting men command her. It shows the thinking of the author who could create should a dominating character in such a time. Moreover, at the same time the women is shown as a deceitful character which is the norm of literature seen and observed every now and then, in which women are portrayed as evil and vindictive. Part. 4: Reference: Carruthers, M. “The Wife of Bath and the Painting of Lions”, PMLA, (1979), pp. 209-222. Print. Chaucer, G. “The Riverside Chaucer”, Houghton Mifflin Co, (1987), pp. 105-116. Print. Cooper, H. “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue”, Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales. New York: Oxford University Press, (1996):2, pp. 5-413. Print. Rigby, S.H. "The Wife of Bath, Christine de Pizan, and the Medieval Case for Women", The Chaucer Review, (2000):35, pp. 133-165. Print. Chaucer, G. The Canterbury Tales- The Tale of the Wif of Bath, (2011). 17 December 2011. Web. . Read More