Wife Of Bath Gender Equality

The Medieval times were swept with misogyny. Traits such as being overly-sexual, deceitful, and overall inferior were attributed to women and they were treated as such. A prominent literary example of this anti-feminist time period lies within Chaucer's, The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath, in her prologue, and her tale. When analyzing The Wife of Bath’s role, the question arises concerning whether Chaucer intended to portray her as a stereotypical, over-sexual, cheating, deceitful woman or use her to advocate gender equality by showing that she (and women as a whole) are people too, entitled to power in society and over their bodies. Religious, literary, societal and historical influences all contributed to Chaucer’s mold of The Wife of
On the other hand, if one views the prologue as an empowering speech about feminism, female power and equality, they will interpret the tale as furthering gender equality. Viewing the play through modern eyes, the Wife of Bath can be understood as both a medieval stereotype and interpreted as a advocate for feminism. While in Medieval times, depending on beliefs, she could be seen as a stereotypical, deceitful woman to traditionalists or a character who tries to preach pro-equality to those more radical or open-minded. Those in Medieval times may be more subject to perceive her as a stereotype due to societal norms, while those in modern times are more subject to interpret her as a more complex character advocating for women. In the prologue, she acts exactly how a medieval audience would expect; exhibiting attributes of that of an over sexual, cheating woman, making her a character to love to hate. When and by whom the tale is read plays significant roles in how The Wife of Bath is
Women in literature were scarcely written as the main character of a story so they rarely had names, character depth or complexity. They were usually portrayed as liars, traitors, and over-sexual. Examples include the female characters within the works Marie De France. She never gave her female characters the lead role, depth or even a name. This yielded an overly melodramatic perception of them as almost the villains of Medieval literature. On the other hand, Judith, written by an anonymous writer was one of the few women in literature depicted as brave and admirable. However, she also embodies the stereotype of women who held their sensuality over men. Judith withheld sex in order to get what she wanted. Chaucer could have been influenced by this work and similar works while creating a feminist character, but there aren’t many similar stories that hold a woman in reverence. The Wife of Bath is particularly concerned about the roles women play in the majority of books. She is enraged about the depiction of women; so much so that she tore out pages of one of her husband’s books because they contained sexist stories that made him laugh. “What shodle I saye but at the monthes end/ This jolly clerk Janekin that was so hende/ Hath he wedded me with greet solempintee” (Chaucer 633-635) This book consisted of real stories that circulated throughout medieval times; telling of tales that depicted women as villainous and