The Wife Of Bath's Tale Essay
Reading Medieval Literature. Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Baths Tale.
The Wife of Baths Tale is a fantastical tale of magical creatures such as fairies, forests, romance, strong Knights and fair maidens, set in the time of King Arthurs counsel in Britain, While the tale is seen as a fairy tale set in an ideal world, it touches on dark subjects such as rape and using power for evil. A Knight overcome with lust for a fair maiden uses his power for evil and rapes this lady dishonouring her. Instead of being sentenced to death as King Arthur wished the King listens to his wife 's advice and gives the Knight one year to redeem his life. In this year he must find out what it is women truly want. Already the Wife of Baths tale puts women to …show more content…
the forefront of the story, they are the main focus of the tale and even the mighty King Arthur listens to his sensible wife. The Knights education through his journey as well as his saviour is also a woman. The Knight finally meets an old hag that gives him the right answer in return that he marry her, while his life is spared he is miserable to marry an ugly woman. The old hag gives the Knight the choice that she can be ugly and loyal or fair and unfaithful, he allows her to make her own decision as that is what all women want, control over their husbands. The transforming power of love then turns the hag both fair and loyal. The Wife of Baths tale echoes that of John Gowers 'Tale of Florent ', in that it focus ' on the notion of the 'loathly lady ' and mirror each other in the plot.
This essay will not focus on the Wife of Baths Tale as a whole, instead this essay will focus primarily on lines 1109-1176. This section of the tale takes place on the night of the redeemed Knight and the old Hags wedding. She has yet to turn into a beautiful lady and lectures her new miserable husband in bed on the idea of true nobility. She tells him that Nobility is measured not by riches or heritage but by chivalry, virtue and those who do good deeds. 'Was thilke tullius hostillius, That out of poverte roos to heigh noblesse. Reedeth senek, and redeth eek boece; There shul ye seen expres that it no drede is That he is gentil that dooth gentil dedis. ' (1166-1170)
The wife states that just because a man comes from a noble house or has noble ancestors does not also make him a noble man or earn him a place of a nobility. She explores the concept that while rich 's and certain traits can be inherited from ones ancestors, nobility cannot as it is something proven through actions and not by stature. A true noble man is unchanged in his attitude in 'Pryvee and apert ' (114), therefore he will carry out his good deeds even when there is no one to witness or praise him. The lines 1109-1176 which this essay focuses on portrays the female character, in the form of the Wife, as the dominant and wise member of this relationship. Her lengthy lecture on gentility to her husband is written in an incredibly persuasive manner and asserts her dominance in the marriage, by the end of this sermon her husband has been converted to her way of thinking and one could argue that he is now a changed man. The Knight admits his inferiority and grants his wife the choice of whether she would like to be a fair maiden or an ugly hag. He now understands that while in society he is of a higher stature than his wife, this does not make him a nobleman, while the Wife argues in the last four lines that while her ancestors were rude she can achieve nobility by living virtuously and abandoning sin. 'Al were it that myne auncestres were rude, Yet may the hye God, and so hope I, Grant me grace to lyven vertuously. Thanne am I gentil, whan that I bigynne To lyven vertuously and weyve synne. ' (1172-1176)
This tale follows a rhyming couplet structure, as the first line rhymes with the second one, the third line with the fourth line and so on throughout. 'But for ye speken of swich gentilesse,
As is descended out of old richesse,
That therefore sholden ye be gentil men,
Swich arrogance is nat worth an hen. ' (1109-1112)
The Wife of Baths Tale, as is the whole of Canterbury Tales, is written in the rhythmic style of Iambic pentameter, which Geoffrey Chaucer in fact invented. 'In verse of non-classical languages: a line consisting of five metrical feet; a poetic style that uses this. In English accentual-syllabic prosody, the pentameter is an iambic line of ten syllables. ' (OED, UCD Databases). The use of Iambic pentameter in the Wife of Baths Tale creates a rhythmic pattern which the ear begins to expect, this pattern is created through the audible strong and weak stresses to certain syllables. The presence of short sentences contributes to the rhythm of this tale as it makes the fairy-tale flow smoothly which in turn makes it easier to read. Chaucer tends to primarily use the form of Iambic foot in this tale with a weak or slender syllable coming before the stronger or broader one. However once Chaucer establishes the set rhyme of this tale he can then play around with syllable sounds in order to keep variation to the ear and not create a lull. For example in lines 1130 and 1131 Chaucer begins with stronger stressed syllables to create a varying sound, 'Wole that of hym we clayme oure gentillesse,
For of oure eldres may we no thyng clayme ' (1130-1131).
Chaucer also exercises the narrative technique of pace within this Tale which deals with the space and time within the tale. For example the lengthy proportion of the tale in which the Old Hags lecture on 'gentilesse ' takes up slows down the pace of the tale in order to put more importance on this particular …show more content…
section.
Many critics including Anne McTaggart argue that the Wife of Baths tale and her prologue mirror and echo each other greatly at certain points especially in the idea of the Wife as a dominant figure within a marriage and also through the concept that wedded bliss comes from a woman 's sovereignty over her husband or lover. In her article we see the idea of the 'loathly lady ' remerging in the line "male surrender of maistrie: the rapist-knight surrenders maistrie to the magical “loathly lady”. However unlike in Gower 's story where the newly changed 'loathly lady ' is allowed keep her sovereignty after marriage, Chaucer 's Old Hag gives up her dominance and becomes an obedient loyal wife to her husband. It is this idea that completely contrasts to the Wife of Bath herself, as McTaggart states that the wife feels it female 'maistrie ' is a 'necessity. Her tale completely contradicts the sexual independence and dominance which the Wife of Bath herself displays in her prologue. Many other comparisons can be drawn from the reading of the Wife of Baths prologue and Tale, one could argue that the Old Hag in the fairy-tale is the Wife herself, her youth and beauty is fast vanishing but she still wants to partake in this game of courtly love and marriage and must devise new plans in which to do so. The changing roles of dominance and obedience seen in this tale could also be seen as a reflection of the Wife of Baths life. In the tale the Old Hag is portrayed as the wise and superior person as she lectures the Knight on nobility, however once he comes to agree with her point of view she relinquishes her sovereignty, this could mirror the Wife of Bath because as she is a widow she has independence over herself, however when she marries her sixth husband will she have to slip back into the role of the obedient wife. The Wife of Bath herself could be described as a professional Wife, she unashamedly tells the other Pilgrims how she used her sexuality as power in her marriages, receiving money for full sexual satisfaction and manipulating the men until she got what she wanted. This is why she is introduced as the 'Wife ' of Bath and not the 'Weaver ' of Bath, which is her actual profession. The character if the Wife of Bath is a very controversial character for Chaucer to create, it has been stated frequently that she is the first feminist, even as feminist ideas did not exist, during the time Canterbury Tales was written women were viewed as the property of their husbands. Medieval marriage was seen more of a social contract rather than a bond of love, it was acceptable for a husband to beat or even rape his wife. However the Wife of Bath does not fit into the stereotype of the medieval wife and almost has a masculine air of arrogance about her. The Wife strives for control over her own life and is proud of the fact that she uses manipulation and sex to do so. The close reading of the lines 1109-1176 in the Wife 's tale about 'gentility ' shows another great contradiction to the Wife herself as she displays no noble characteristics. Instead of living a virtuous life and achieving nobility through good deeds as the Wife in the tale states, the Wife of Bath chooses to embrace the sin of lust and proudly tells others of her sexual exploits and cruel treatment of her husbands, especially the first three.
This essay focuses on the close reading of lines 1109-1176 in which the Wife discusses the concept of true nobility with the redeemed Knight of the tale. She states that true gentility or nobility comes from virtue rather than ancestry. Nobility is a key theme throughout the whole of the Wife of Baths Tale but is seen more heavily in the 'loathly lady 's ' speech. This idea of 'gentillesse ' allows Chaucer to provide a sort of social commentary on the social status of medieval Britain and also the constraints of marriage on women. It outlines that is irrelevant if a man comes from a noble house if he does not act in a noble manner. The close reading of this section also focuses on women as the dominant figure, they are the main focus throughout the tale and portrayed as intellectual and wise. This concept ties in with the character of the Wife of Bath as she views herself as an independent woman. However this notion is abruptly rejected at the end of the Wife of Baths tale as the Wife becomes an obedient and loyal wife and gives up her sovereignty which contradicts the very notion that what women want is to be in control of their husbands.
Works Cited.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.” The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. Larry Dean Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987. Lines 1109-76.
"Iambic Pentameter". Entry 1, def 2. Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2nd ed. Oxford UP, 1989. Web. accessed 1 March 2013.
Malone, Kemp, 'The Wife of Baths Tale ', The Modern language review, Vol 57, No.4 (1962): pp 481-491. Jstor, accessed 3 March 2013.
McTaggart, Anne, "What Women Want?: Mimesis and Gender in Chaucer 's Wife of Baths Tale and Prologue, Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture, Vol 19. (2012), pp41-51, Project Muse, accessed 3 March 2013.
Crossref-it.info, accessed 4 March 2013, http://www.crossref-it.info/textguide/The-Wife-of-Bath 's-Prologue-and-Tale/30/2075.
The Geoffrey Chaucer Page, "The Wife of Baths Prologue and Tale", accessed 4 March 2013, http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/wbt-par.htm.
Bibliography.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.” The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. Larry Dean Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987. Lines 1109-76.
"Iambic Pentameter". Entry 1, def 2. Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2nd ed. Oxford UP, 1989. Web. accessed 1 March 2013.
Malone, Kemp, 'The Wife of Baths Tale ', The Modern language review, Vol 57, No.4 (1962): pp 481-491. Jstor, accessed 3 March 2013.
McTaggart, Anne, "What Women Want?: Mimesis and Gender in Chaucer 's Wife of Baths Tale and Prologue, Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture, Vol 19. (2012), pp41-51, Project Muse, accessed 3 March 2013.
Crossref-it.info, accessed 4 March 2013, http://www.crossref-it.info/textguide/The-Wife-of-Bath 's-Prologue-and-Tale/30/2075.
The Geoffrey Chaucer Page, "The Wife of Baths Prologue and Tale", accessed 4 March 2013,
http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/wbt-par.htm.
Bisson, Lillian M, Chaucer and the Late Medieval World, London, MacMillan Press ltd, 1998, print.
Huppe, Bernard. F, A Reading of the Canterbury Tales, New York, New York UP, 1967, print.
Szittya, Penn.r, "The Green Yeoman as Loathly Lady: The Friars Parody of the Wife of Baths tale", PMLA, Vol. 90, No.3 (1975). pp. 386-394. Jstor, accessed 3 March 2013.
Koban, Charles, "Hearing Chaucer Out: The Art of Persuasion in the "Wife of Baths Tale"", The Chaucer Review, Vol. 5, No.3 (1971). pp225-239. Jstor, accessed 3 March 2013.
The Wife of Baths Tale is a fantastical tale of magical creatures such as fairies, forests, romance, strong Knights and fair maidens, set in the time of King Arthurs counsel in Britain, While the tale is seen as a fairy tale set in an ideal world, it touches on dark subjects such as rape and using power for evil. A Knight overcome with lust for a fair maiden uses his power for evil and rapes this lady dishonouring her. Instead of being sentenced to death as King Arthur wished the King listens to his wife 's advice and gives the Knight one year to redeem his life. In this year he must find out what it is women truly want. Already the Wife of Baths tale puts women to …show more content…
the forefront of the story, they are the main focus of the tale and even the mighty King Arthur listens to his sensible wife. The Knights education through his journey as well as his saviour is also a woman. The Knight finally meets an old hag that gives him the right answer in return that he marry her, while his life is spared he is miserable to marry an ugly woman. The old hag gives the Knight the choice that she can be ugly and loyal or fair and unfaithful, he allows her to make her own decision as that is what all women want, control over their husbands. The transforming power of love then turns the hag both fair and loyal. The Wife of Baths tale echoes that of John Gowers 'Tale of Florent ', in that it focus ' on the notion of the 'loathly lady ' and mirror each other in the plot.
This essay will not focus on the Wife of Baths Tale as a whole, instead this essay will focus primarily on lines 1109-1176. This section of the tale takes place on the night of the redeemed Knight and the old Hags wedding. She has yet to turn into a beautiful lady and lectures her new miserable husband in bed on the idea of true nobility. She tells him that Nobility is measured not by riches or heritage but by chivalry, virtue and those who do good deeds. 'Was thilke tullius hostillius, That out of poverte roos to heigh noblesse. Reedeth senek, and redeth eek boece; There shul ye seen expres that it no drede is That he is gentil that dooth gentil dedis. ' (1166-1170)
The wife states that just because a man comes from a noble house or has noble ancestors does not also make him a noble man or earn him a place of a nobility. She explores the concept that while rich 's and certain traits can be inherited from ones ancestors, nobility cannot as it is something proven through actions and not by stature. A true noble man is unchanged in his attitude in 'Pryvee and apert ' (114), therefore he will carry out his good deeds even when there is no one to witness or praise him. The lines 1109-1176 which this essay focuses on portrays the female character, in the form of the Wife, as the dominant and wise member of this relationship. Her lengthy lecture on gentility to her husband is written in an incredibly persuasive manner and asserts her dominance in the marriage, by the end of this sermon her husband has been converted to her way of thinking and one could argue that he is now a changed man. The Knight admits his inferiority and grants his wife the choice of whether she would like to be a fair maiden or an ugly hag. He now understands that while in society he is of a higher stature than his wife, this does not make him a nobleman, while the Wife argues in the last four lines that while her ancestors were rude she can achieve nobility by living virtuously and abandoning sin. 'Al were it that myne auncestres were rude, Yet may the hye God, and so hope I, Grant me grace to lyven vertuously. Thanne am I gentil, whan that I bigynne To lyven vertuously and weyve synne. ' (1172-1176)
This tale follows a rhyming couplet structure, as the first line rhymes with the second one, the third line with the fourth line and so on throughout. 'But for ye speken of swich gentilesse,
As is descended out of old richesse,
That therefore sholden ye be gentil men,
Swich arrogance is nat worth an hen. ' (1109-1112)
The Wife of Baths Tale, as is the whole of Canterbury Tales, is written in the rhythmic style of Iambic pentameter, which Geoffrey Chaucer in fact invented. 'In verse of non-classical languages: a line consisting of five metrical feet; a poetic style that uses this. In English accentual-syllabic prosody, the pentameter is an iambic line of ten syllables. ' (OED, UCD Databases). The use of Iambic pentameter in the Wife of Baths Tale creates a rhythmic pattern which the ear begins to expect, this pattern is created through the audible strong and weak stresses to certain syllables. The presence of short sentences contributes to the rhythm of this tale as it makes the fairy-tale flow smoothly which in turn makes it easier to read. Chaucer tends to primarily use the form of Iambic foot in this tale with a weak or slender syllable coming before the stronger or broader one. However once Chaucer establishes the set rhyme of this tale he can then play around with syllable sounds in order to keep variation to the ear and not create a lull. For example in lines 1130 and 1131 Chaucer begins with stronger stressed syllables to create a varying sound, 'Wole that of hym we clayme oure gentillesse,
For of oure eldres may we no thyng clayme ' (1130-1131).
Chaucer also exercises the narrative technique of pace within this Tale which deals with the space and time within the tale. For example the lengthy proportion of the tale in which the Old Hags lecture on 'gentilesse ' takes up slows down the pace of the tale in order to put more importance on this particular …show more content…
section.
Many critics including Anne McTaggart argue that the Wife of Baths tale and her prologue mirror and echo each other greatly at certain points especially in the idea of the Wife as a dominant figure within a marriage and also through the concept that wedded bliss comes from a woman 's sovereignty over her husband or lover. In her article we see the idea of the 'loathly lady ' remerging in the line "male surrender of maistrie: the rapist-knight surrenders maistrie to the magical “loathly lady”. However unlike in Gower 's story where the newly changed 'loathly lady ' is allowed keep her sovereignty after marriage, Chaucer 's Old Hag gives up her dominance and becomes an obedient loyal wife to her husband. It is this idea that completely contrasts to the Wife of Bath herself, as McTaggart states that the wife feels it female 'maistrie ' is a 'necessity. Her tale completely contradicts the sexual independence and dominance which the Wife of Bath herself displays in her prologue. Many other comparisons can be drawn from the reading of the Wife of Baths prologue and Tale, one could argue that the Old Hag in the fairy-tale is the Wife herself, her youth and beauty is fast vanishing but she still wants to partake in this game of courtly love and marriage and must devise new plans in which to do so. The changing roles of dominance and obedience seen in this tale could also be seen as a reflection of the Wife of Baths life. In the tale the Old Hag is portrayed as the wise and superior person as she lectures the Knight on nobility, however once he comes to agree with her point of view she relinquishes her sovereignty, this could mirror the Wife of Bath because as she is a widow she has independence over herself, however when she marries her sixth husband will she have to slip back into the role of the obedient wife. The Wife of Bath herself could be described as a professional Wife, she unashamedly tells the other Pilgrims how she used her sexuality as power in her marriages, receiving money for full sexual satisfaction and manipulating the men until she got what she wanted. This is why she is introduced as the 'Wife ' of Bath and not the 'Weaver ' of Bath, which is her actual profession. The character if the Wife of Bath is a very controversial character for Chaucer to create, it has been stated frequently that she is the first feminist, even as feminist ideas did not exist, during the time Canterbury Tales was written women were viewed as the property of their husbands. Medieval marriage was seen more of a social contract rather than a bond of love, it was acceptable for a husband to beat or even rape his wife. However the Wife of Bath does not fit into the stereotype of the medieval wife and almost has a masculine air of arrogance about her. The Wife strives for control over her own life and is proud of the fact that she uses manipulation and sex to do so. The close reading of the lines 1109-1176 in the Wife 's tale about 'gentility ' shows another great contradiction to the Wife herself as she displays no noble characteristics. Instead of living a virtuous life and achieving nobility through good deeds as the Wife in the tale states, the Wife of Bath chooses to embrace the sin of lust and proudly tells others of her sexual exploits and cruel treatment of her husbands, especially the first three.
This essay focuses on the close reading of lines 1109-1176 in which the Wife discusses the concept of true nobility with the redeemed Knight of the tale. She states that true gentility or nobility comes from virtue rather than ancestry. Nobility is a key theme throughout the whole of the Wife of Baths Tale but is seen more heavily in the 'loathly lady 's ' speech. This idea of 'gentillesse ' allows Chaucer to provide a sort of social commentary on the social status of medieval Britain and also the constraints of marriage on women. It outlines that is irrelevant if a man comes from a noble house if he does not act in a noble manner. The close reading of this section also focuses on women as the dominant figure, they are the main focus throughout the tale and portrayed as intellectual and wise. This concept ties in with the character of the Wife of Bath as she views herself as an independent woman. However this notion is abruptly rejected at the end of the Wife of Baths tale as the Wife becomes an obedient and loyal wife and gives up her sovereignty which contradicts the very notion that what women want is to be in control of their husbands.
Works Cited.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.” The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. Larry Dean Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987. Lines 1109-76.
"Iambic Pentameter". Entry 1, def 2. Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2nd ed. Oxford UP, 1989. Web. accessed 1 March 2013.
Malone, Kemp, 'The Wife of Baths Tale ', The Modern language review, Vol 57, No.4 (1962): pp 481-491. Jstor, accessed 3 March 2013.
McTaggart, Anne, "What Women Want?: Mimesis and Gender in Chaucer 's Wife of Baths Tale and Prologue, Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture, Vol 19. (2012), pp41-51, Project Muse, accessed 3 March 2013.
Crossref-it.info, accessed 4 March 2013, http://www.crossref-it.info/textguide/The-Wife-of-Bath 's-Prologue-and-Tale/30/2075.
The Geoffrey Chaucer Page, "The Wife of Baths Prologue and Tale", accessed 4 March 2013, http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/wbt-par.htm.
Bibliography.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.” The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. Larry Dean Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987. Lines 1109-76.
"Iambic Pentameter". Entry 1, def 2. Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2nd ed. Oxford UP, 1989. Web. accessed 1 March 2013.
Malone, Kemp, 'The Wife of Baths Tale ', The Modern language review, Vol 57, No.4 (1962): pp 481-491. Jstor, accessed 3 March 2013.
McTaggart, Anne, "What Women Want?: Mimesis and Gender in Chaucer 's Wife of Baths Tale and Prologue, Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture, Vol 19. (2012), pp41-51, Project Muse, accessed 3 March 2013.
Crossref-it.info, accessed 4 March 2013, http://www.crossref-it.info/textguide/The-Wife-of-Bath 's-Prologue-and-Tale/30/2075.
The Geoffrey Chaucer Page, "The Wife of Baths Prologue and Tale", accessed 4 March 2013,
http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/wbt-par.htm.
Bisson, Lillian M, Chaucer and the Late Medieval World, London, MacMillan Press ltd, 1998, print.
Huppe, Bernard. F, A Reading of the Canterbury Tales, New York, New York UP, 1967, print.
Szittya, Penn.r, "The Green Yeoman as Loathly Lady: The Friars Parody of the Wife of Baths tale", PMLA, Vol. 90, No.3 (1975). pp. 386-394. Jstor, accessed 3 March 2013.
Koban, Charles, "Hearing Chaucer Out: The Art of Persuasion in the "Wife of Baths Tale"", The Chaucer Review, Vol. 5, No.3 (1971). pp225-239. Jstor, accessed 3 March 2013.