The Wife of Bath by Chaucer Essay Example

I don't believe that Chaucer's depiction of Alisoun and the wife of birth are intended to support misogynist and anti-feminist that she complains about in her prologue and tales. This is because Alison uses men like slaves by using her body to get authority and sovereignty. This thus shows that Alison is not a feminist who cares for all women rights but instead cares for herself alone. It, therefore, proves that Chaucer is not reinforcing misogynist and anti-feminist, but rather she is against how Alison seek feminism from men.

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In Chaucer's "General prologue "there is a comparison between the Christian and Wife of Bath regarding woman behavior. The Christian tradition according to Chaucer's sees women as sinners. A good example of this is Eve who caused the downfall of the men all around the world as believed by the Christian though there are women like Mary who were seen pure for maintaining their virginity. According to Chaucer's the Wife of Bath contradict the perception of Christianity towards women. The Wife of Bath is so courageous that she displays tainted Sunday clothes with a lot of pride and prefers to wear homemade ten pounds of cloth. This shows exactly that Wife of Bath is not shy but instead proud of being expert in making weave for herself back at her hat.

In the "General prologue" Chaucer's went ahead to describe the Alison physical appearance that she had gap-tooth and went further describe her legs, feet, and hips. This act of describing physical appearance was to signify lust and sensuality. Chaucer further shows how Alison was a devoted Christian who goes to pilgrimages more often, but it is later noticed that she has nothing concerned with Religion. She is just a medieval tourist who likes to show off. She is more interested in love than anything else and emphasizes that five men marry her and also she knows all concerning love because she is experienced in men "remedies of love." (Chaucer, G. 2012, 90-96).

Also according to Chaucer in both "Tale" and "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" the issue of marriage, virginity, and the Wife of Bath has well-elaborated sovereignty. According to the "Wife of Bath's Tale" Alison is depicting control that women should have. She is a dominant and strong woman, and she gets whatever she needs at any time and does not accept defeat. She sees doing so is the right thing and men need to show respect to her. She portrays the need for power when she says that she uses the "instrument "that is sexual organ given by God freely as a weapon to own her husband and get sovereignty in return.

Conclusion

Chaucer is not making fun of Alison and other women like her but instead intended to subvert dominant clerical and patriarchal discourses about women in Chaucer's culture. This is because Chaucer's support that man should not look down to the women in the society like the way Christian tradition sees women. Despite supporting the idea that men should no see women as wicked in the society she condemn the act of Alison in the "Wife of Bath" in her tales and prologues. This is because Alison does not actually support the act of feminism but rather uses his body to get the power and authority by making men be slaves. She uses sex to manipulate men which is against feministic belief because she is greedy and selfish; this justifies that Alison is no fighting for feminism (Swan, R. 2010, 120).

References

Chaucer, G. (2012). The Wife of Bath. Lanham: Start Publishing LLC.

Swan, R. (2010). The wife of Bath. Deddington: Philip Allan Updates.