Wife Of Bath And Redemption Of Character - 1864 Words

Matthew Herman Early Texts and Contexts Professor Van Engen 2/13/2015 Wife of Bath and Redemption of Character Chaucer’s â€Å"The Canterbury Tales† is a collection of over twenty stories told from the perspective of different members of a group of travelers as part of a story telling competition. Each member devises their own tale, ranging anywhere from a tale about chivalry and valor, fittingly told by a knight, to a comedic tale of a cheating wife and all the consequences that her actions bring, told by the miller. Through the act of introducing and telling their tales, each traveler puts themselves on display for the rest of the group and in doing so, reveals much about their true character. One storyteller’s tale in particular stands out in the way it does this: the Wife of Bath. Throughout her lengthy prologue, the Wife of Bath freely portrays herself as an imperfect person. Of herself she gives a complicated account, defending and explaining her many marriages and describing her actions towards her husbands, which were often very shaky morally speaking. She follows up her prologue by telling the story of a young man who, after committing a heinous crime and being sent on a quest to redeem himself, succeeds in this mission and ends up marrying a beautiful woman, living happily ever after. The narrator, who may at first seem to be incongruously paired with her tale, is actually working towards a greater purpose in this juxtaposition. The wife of bath, by following up herShow MoreRelatedThe Bath And A Small Good Thing1746 Words   |  7 Pagesstories The Bath and A Small Good Thing seem to follow the same pattern, but both versions are written in a different way and to different ends. The pattern used allows the reader to create a variety of experiences and different perspectives of both storylines. In both stories, the central plot and most of the details remain the same. The language in The Bath is vague and has a more sympathetic feeling on the reader whereas A Small Good Thing goes deeper into the development of the characters and theRead M oreChaucers Views On Wife Of Bath And Feminism1529 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"Views on Wife of Bath and Feminism† In the time period of the 14th century, many woman faced inequality. Women were not viewed to uphold the same quota as men. Most females were viewed as passive to males and were not able to make many demands in their relationships or make any contributions to their own survival or life. In the â€Å"Wife of Bath Tale†, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, Chaucer gives an insight into the struggles of a woman. Chaucer gives a voice for women who cannot speak for themselvesRead MoreWife Of Baths Tale Analysis1265 Words   |  6 PagesIn The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer gives multiple examples in â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Tale† of Alice, The Wife, intellectually manipulating her husbands, which portray her as a rebel against female norms of her day and a trailblazer for women going forward. However, there are some incredibly conflicting aspects of the Wife of Bath’s portrayal of women. Certainly, it can be said The Wife of Bath’s Alice was far ahead of her time. In a period when men ruled and women were expected to be subservient, sheRead MoreNature of the Representation of Death on Television1356 Words   |  5 PagesBrad Pitts character represents an idealistic and naè ª °ve type who has not yet, so to speak, eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (the works of Dante and Thomas Aquinas are, for example, foreign to him). Freemans character, on the other hand, is a practiced veteran, whose knowledge is both theoretical and practical; he has eaten of the tree, in other words, and carries with him a burden of guilt (which is revealed in a conversation with the pregnant wife of Pitts character as stemmingRead MoreEssay on Summary and Analysis of The Pardoners Tale1346 Words   |  6 Pagesapostles in their poverty, but will have food, comfort, and a wench in every town. Analysis Among the various pilgrims featured in the Canterbury Tales, the Pardoner is one of the most fully realized characters. The only character to whom Chaucer gives greater detail is the Wife of Bath. The Pardoner is a fraudulent huckster who shows no qualms about passing off false items as the relics of saints, but he also demonstrates a great sense of self-loathing. The Pardoner shifts from moments ofRead More Summary and Analysis of The Friars Tale Essay992 Words   |  4 PagesSummary and Analysis of The Friars Tale (The Canterbury Tales) Prologue to the Friars Tale: The Friar commends the Wife of Bath for her tale, and then says that he will tell a tale about a summoner. He does not wish to offend the Summoner who travels with them, but insists that summoners are known for lewd behavior. The Summoner does not take offense, but does indicate that he will repay the Friar in turn. The job of the Summoner to which the Friar objects is to issue summons from the churchRead MoreThe One and Only Wife of Bath Essay2762 Words   |  12 PagesOnly Wife of Bath In The Canterbury tales, Chaucer uses The Wife of Bath as a representation of what it was like for Women in the Middle Ages to be striped of equality and bow to the otherwise male dominated society. For the representation of women Chaucer uses the Tales of â€Å"The Scholar†, â€Å"The Second Nun â€Å"The Reeve’s†, and â€Å"The Franklin† and many others in a very dry, pretentious manner to steer readers into the view of how a women of the Middle Ages should be as a so called â€Å"virtuous† wife or womanRead MoreRaskolnikov V. Svidrigailov1393 Words   |  6 Pagesthin veil that enshrouds his true character; that of a hedonist absorbed in his own pursuits of personal pleasure to the point of complete and total licentiousness. However, he is a patient man and he uses this fact to his advantage in order to better disguise his various plots and intrigues. His efforts have proven to be extremely successful in regards to the several murders that he committed over the years; including the suggestion that he poisoned his own wife. While any normal person’s psycheRead MoreShawshank Redemption Reflection2090 Words   |  9 PagesThe movie â€Å"Shawshank Redemption† shows what goes on in a prison. The movie depicts the part of a prison that most people are not aware of. People think of a prison as a place a person is tortured physically as well mentally. However, all that being said true, friendship, hope, and loyalty exists in prison. The movie shows how the main characters Red and Andy build a friendship that lasts in life after prison and loyalty among the inmates. Besides the development of friendship, the movie clearly showsRead MoreEssay on The Canterbury3492 Words   |  14 Pages a Second Nun, a Monk, a Friar, a Merchant, a Clerk, a Man of Law, a Franklin, a Weaver, a Dyer, a Carpenter, a Tapestry-Maker, a Haberdasher, a Cook, a Shipman, a Physician, a Parson, a Miller, a Manciple, a Reeve, a Summoner, a P ardoner, the Wife of Bath, and Chaucer himself. These travelers, who stop at the Tabard Inn, decide to tell stories to pass their time on the way to Canterbury. The Host of the Tabard Inn sets the rules for the tales. Each of the pilgrims will tell two stories on the way