Paper Example on The Wife of Bath's Tale: A Vivid Exploration of Feminism Through Literary Devices

“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer revolves around the idea of feminism as reflected in the views of the wife. The tale reveals repeated use of literary devices that create a vivid understanding of the story. Some of the literary devices evident throughout the tale include epithet, imagery, symbolism, and foreshadowing. These literary devices help the reader to understand the wife’s key arguments as well as ideas and also aid in analyzing the story. More so, the literary devices in the tale are pertinent to the Medieval period where “the Canterbury tales” were written. Furthermore, analysis of the tale helps the reader to comprehend the overarching themes that reoccur in the wife, Alison’s, story. Through the use of three scholarly sources, the purpose of this paper is to explore literary devices such as epithet, imagery, symbolism, and foreshadowing. in the “The Wife of Bath’s Tale.”

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One of the literary devices used in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is an epithet. An epithet is a literary device that makes the characteristics of a person more prominent. In the tale, epithet reflects the power dynamics between men and women. In “The matriarch of Bath – Chaucer’s feminist insights,” Smith (2014) indicated that Chaucer’s tale tells a story of how people use their power in society. The author indicated that through the death of her husbands, Alison acquired substantial wealth with gave her power. More so, the author indicated that Alison has power over her life and sexuality. More so, when Knight rapes the maiden, the Loathly lady administered justice to him, which showed power. In Chaucer’s tale, there is no doubt that power lies in the hands of women who administer justice and make their decisions.

In Chaucer’s tale, another literary device used is imagery. Imagery is one of the literary devices that Chaucer uses in the tale to convey the narrative by the wife about her desires in marriage. The imagery represents feminism and gender throughout the story as well as depicts the wife’s character, personality, and principles. The flowers, seeds, and fruits in the tale, for example, are imagery for the wife’s sexual escapades. The wife justifies her love for sex with her husbands to something natural. She indicated, “and certès, if there were no seed y-sow, //Virginity then whereof should it grow?” (Chaucer, 1976, 71-72). The wife uses the metaphor of the seed to show that if women were chaste, then no one would be in the world. Also, the wife refers to fruits and seeds to describe her sexual relations. She indicated, “I will bestow the flower of all mine age//In the actès and the fruit of marriage” (113-114). Seemingly, the wife uses the flower to imply that people would not have sexual organs if virginity as for everyone. In her text, “The Wife of Bath and the Painting of Lions,” Carruthers (1979) described the wife as “oversexed” and that according to her narrative of sex, Chaucer’s concern is wifehood and not motherhood. The use of imagery in the tale is majorly used to describe the wife’s lustful character and the way she compares her sexual desire to natural things such as the fruits, seeds, and flowers.

Another literary device used in the tale is symbolism. Symbolism is a literary device that uses symbols such as people and places to show something beyond the literary meaning. In the tale, both males and females have a quest for power and sovereignty. In her narrative about the painting of the lion, for example, Alison talked about problems in marriage as well as the inaccurate portrayal of men towards women. In the tale, the lion is a symbol of power representing men. In the source “The Wife of Bath and the Painting of Lions,” Carruthers (1979) indicated that the fable of the lion painting symbolizes prejudices in society. In “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, Chaucer wrote an anti-feminist proverb that stated,

Furthermore, Chaucer uses Knight as a symbol of men’s sovereignty. The Knight has power and it is evident when he rapes the maiden. Straus (1988) in her article about “The Subversive Discourse of the Wife of Bath: Phallocentric Discourse and the Imprisonment of Criticism” indicated that the wife’s narrative about the Knight shows that his quest begins and ends with women. According to the author, the wife’s narrative provides a critical commentary on the relationships among sexuality. Undoubtedly, in the tale, the interlude that women are sovereign is just a fairy tale as Chaucer makes the reader know that knight is a symbol of all men. On the other hand, the Loathly lady is the symbol of women’s sovereignty. When the loathly lady takes the role of the judge, her character and words when ruling on Knight’s case depict the sovereignty of women. She indicated, “for as you liketh, it sufficeth me.//Then have I got of you mastery,' quod she,//Since I may choose and govern as me lest?//Yea, certès, wife,' quod he, `I hold it best” (Chaucer, 1976, 1235-1238) Since feminism is the overarching theme in the tale, Chaucer’s use of symbolism helps the reader to identify Knight as the symbol of male sovereignty and the Loathly Lady as the symbol of female sovereignty.

Within Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” another literary device used is foreshadowing. Foreshadowing presents hints that would happen in later parts of a story. In the opening of the tale, for instance, foreshadows to the reader that the wife has experiences in marriage since she has been married five times (Chaucer, 1979). Chaucer indicated, “husbands at churchè door she had had five” (460). More so, some lines in the text, foreshadow what women want. For example, women desire sex from their husbands. The wife indicated,

Furthermore, in the tale, when Knight rapes the maiden, the event foreshadows that he will eventually face justice. Smith (2014) indicated that when Knight rapes a young woman, justice is expected by the people. In the tale, when Knight is brought before the court, justice indeed happens when the queen sentences Knight to the sentence she deems fit (Chaucer, 1979). Undoubtedly, foreshadowing has revealed the message and moral of the tale that actions have reactions in the future.

Conclusion

This literary analysis has provided evidence of literary devices such as epithet, imagery, symbolism, and foreshadowing that are present in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Chaucer. These literary devices are helpful because they help in understanding the narrative by the wife. The tale centers around the idea of feminism where the wife and the women have their views on gender equality, power, and sovereignty. Epithet makes the characteristics of a person more prominent. Imagery provides vivid details to understand the text. Symbolism represents a larger message, idea, and context. Foreshadowing helps in knowing the future of the story. A closer examination of the text helps in understanding literary devices in a broader context and also relate them to modern-day literature.

References

Carruthers, M. (1979). The Wife of Bath and the Painting of Lions. PMLA, 94(2), 209-222. doi:10.2307/461886

Chaucer, Geoffrey. (1976). The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale and the Clerk's Prologue and Tale from the Canterbury Tales. Holmes & Meier.

Smith, T. J (2014). The matriarch of bath – Chaucer’s feminist insights. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 2(3), pp. 76-83. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20140203.14

Straus, B. (1988). The Subversive Discourse of the Wife of Bath: Phallocentric discourse and the imprisonment of criticism. ELH, 55(3), 527-554. doi:10.2307/2873182