Compare lago's wife, Emilia, and the Wife of Bath from Chaucer's Cantebury Tales - Essay Example

Comparison between Emilia and Wife of Bath in the Canterbury Tales Emilia is the wife of Iago in the play Othello by William Shakespeare. Iago is the ensign of Cassio. Emilia loves Iago very much and even though she does everything to please him, Iago does not love her back in the same measure. Wife of Bath is a feminist character in the Canterbury tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. She is a woman with five husbands, and she is proud of this feat. She says that the first three were good husbands because she was able to manipulate them to submit to her needs.

She did not like the last two very much. Emilia is a woman who believes in love. It is love that drives her to serve as an instrument in his evil plans. When he asks her to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief, she does so to comply with his wishes. She knows that this will imply that her friend Desdemona is unfaithful to her husband Cassio, and it will put her in trouble. When she takes the handkerchief to him and tries to flirt with him, he simply grabs it away from her and walks away. She loves him, but on his side fails to return the love because he only cares for himself and his selfish ambitions.

She says to Desdemona that it is men who drive women to cheat on them. Iago’s impartiality to her drives her away. Iago suspects that Emilia has an affair with Cassio, he says this in his soliloquy, “it is thought abroad, that twixt my sheets / He has done my office” (Chaucer 21) and that is one of the reasons why he decides to ruin Cassio. Iago suspects this because of the embrace that Cassio gave to Emilia when they visited them, he kissed her saying, “Let it not gall your patience, good Iago, / That I extend my manners;, tis my breeding /, That gives me this bold show of courtesy” (Chaucer 23).

She says that she would commit adultery if it meant that it would make his husband happy to fulfill his ambitions. The Wife of Bath, on the other hand, is a feminist who uses her sexual prowess to achieve her ambitions. She uses the Bible and some of its Scriptures to defend her position. Most people do not like her because she has been in numerous marriages. She, however, says that she is only obeying God’s call to procreate and fulfill the earth. She also supports the views of St. Paul in the Bible that those who can remain celibate, but it is not something that she would do.

Due to her extensive experience, she asserts herself as an authority in marriage. While Emilia submits to Iago to please his whims, the Wife of Bath manipulates her husbands to so that they can please her. She teases them and torments them, much like what Iago does to Emilia, so that she can make them feel guilty that they do not value woman as much as they do and in acts of penance, they gave her gifts and the money that she wanted. Emilia and the Wife of Bath are complete opposites. Emilia is a slave to a patriarchal system while Emilia lives to break free from the same.

Works CitedChaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales.1483. William Caxton. Print.