William Chaucer s Wife Of Bath s Tale - 1523 Words

In medieval literature, the knight is held to the highest esteem among all members of the king’s court. The knight is bound to a shared code that dictates how one should act in any possible situation that may arise. While embarking on their epic journeys, knights are often put through trials that test the strength they have to uphold the Knightly Code. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale, the nameless knight disregards his duty to the Knightly Code in several instances throughout the tale. The knight in question is brought into Arthur’s court labeled with charges of rape. Posed a question by the queen the knight was tasked with supplying her the correct answer in order to save his life. The way the knight carries out his task and how he handles the situations that arise after his life is secure are reasons to question his moral character and his true loyalty to his knighthood. The knights’ actions throughout the tale are deplorable, but to und erstand how the tale progresses you have to understand the woman who is telling the tale. The Wife of Bath, a woman of age and experience, is the narrator of this story. Described as, †ruddy, bold and fair†, the wife of bath was not a stranger to the idea of marriage. Having been married five times the Wife of Bath was described in a way that made it sound as if getting married was her profession. In her precursor to the tale, she described each of her husbands and the marriage that accompanied each one in great detail. TheShow MoreRelatedGender Stereotypes : Macbeth And The Wife Of Bath1515 Words   |  7 Pagesfemale, some authors such as William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer challenged this by describing the female characters as strong and ambitious characters. Not only challenging the sexual stereotypes that existed in both time periods, Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare also enabled the female characters both in Macbeth and The Wife of Bath exploit their sexuality to obtain the balance of power. Female characters in Macbeth and The Wife of Bath challenged the traits of stereotypicalRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Othello And The Canterbury Tales Essay1369 Words   |  6 PagesIn William Shakespeare’s novel, â€Å"Othello† and in Geoffrey Chaucer’s novel, The Canterbury Tales, include women throughout both novels. The novel, Othello is written in 1603 and The Canterbury Tales is written in the 1400’s, during the late Middle Ages. Women during the Late Middle Ages and the early Modern Period were portrayed differently then how women are portrayed today. Typically, during this time period of 1400-1600’s, women roles during this time was weak. Women were only allowed to listenRead MoreThe Fight For Gender Equality Essay1357 Words   |  6 Pageswomen within Chaucer and Shakespeare s literary work while keeping the historical, Middle Ages and Renaissance, time periods in mind. More Specifically, â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s P rologue,† by Chaucer and â€Å"As You Like It,† by William Shakespeare will be examined. In doing so, the essay will uncover, not only the role of women within the poems, but the feminist aspects Chaucer and Shakespeare contain within both of their poems, and the progressive views certain characters had within â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s PrologueRead MoreGeoffrey Chaucer s Impact On Literature1231 Words   |  5 PagesGeoffrey Chaucer’s Impact on Literature: English poet Geoffrey Chaucer is acclaimed to be one of the best and most influential poets in history. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote several famous literary works in what is called middle English. Geoffrey Chaucer was born in 1340 in London, England. Over the course of Chaucer’s life, he entered and exited several different social classes. He began to write his most known pieces when he became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster in 1357. He diedRead MoreEssay about Chaucers Wife of Bath2474 Words   |  10 PagesChaucers Wife of Bath Before beginning any discussion on Chaucer’s Wife of Bath, one must first recognize that, as critic Elaine Treharne writes, â€Å"Critical response to the Wife of Bath has been as diverse as it has been emotive† (2). Some critics love the Wife of Bath and her controversial prologue, proclaiming that she is a woman of strength and powerful words; others hate her and cover the eyes of younger girls, determined that Wife of Bath is instead a role model of what women should notRead More Contradictions in Chaucers The Canterbury Tales Essay3897 Words   |  16 PagesContradictions in Chaucers The Canterbury Tales There is no question that contradictory values make up a major component of The Canterbury Tales. Fate vs. Fortuna, knowledge vs. experience and love vs. hate all embody Chaucers famous work. These contrasting themes are an integral part of the complexity and sophistication of the book, as they provide for an ironic dichotomy to the creative plot development and undermine the superficial assumptions that might be made. The combination of completelyRead More The Controversial Margery Kempe Essay4134 Words   |  17 Pagesgrace. Others had a religious perspective, immersing themselves in Gods work on earth. One such woman was Margery Kempe, a fifteenth-century visionary who was widely criticized as being a heretic and worshipper of Satan. Kempe set aside her roles as wife and mother to pursue what she felt was her true calling: preaching Gods Word. Labeled a religious mystic by some, Margery was a highly controversial figure in late medieval England. Not only was her public behavior d eemed ridiculous and motivatedRead MoreA Picatrix Miscellany52019 Words   |  209 PagesTrithemius in Book 2 of his notorious Steganographia (1500) and in his Antipalus Maleficiorum (c. 1500). One copy (British Library, Sloane manuscript 3679) passed down from Simon Forman (d. 1611) to Richard Napier (d. 1634) to Elias Ashmole (d. 1692) to William Lilly (d. 1681). E.M. Butler wrongly associates it with Gio. Peccatrix, (no doubt a pseudonym) who edited an Italian version of the Key of Solomon (British Library, Sloane manuscript 1307). Misled by some comments by Mathers and others, Dr. Butler