The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale written by author Geoffrey Chaucer - Essay Example

He identifies shortcomings in the society in his impeccable style and hits out without hurting. His criticism of that era holds well in the present times. Chaucer’s writing style has a unique, humor-filled double meaning. Here is an example as to how he handles the pair of opposites, traps a negative thought within the positive. He blends his ideas with latent humor. “She used to weep if she saw a mouse Caught in a trap, if it were dead or bleeding And she had little dogs she would be feeding, With roasted flesh, or milk, or fine white bread, And bitterly she wept if one were dead Or someone took a stick and made it smart, She was all sentiment and tender heart.”(p.7) The female character that defies the established role-model of a woman of the 14th Century: The Wife, for example, is a tough female character but the reader is unable to gauge whether she is feminist or anti-feminist due to the style in which Chaucer deals with her character.

This is his unique way of writing, whether he is making jest or quite serious while highlighting the traits. An author may be crafty, yet one cannot sweep under the carpet one’s own views, while making the characters speak on some issue and Chaucer is no exception to this rule. Chaucer has brought all his administrative experience and his interaction with many types of people in the discharge of his duties in various capacities. Alisoun, the Wife of Bath, is an extraordinary character in medieval literature.

She is over-confident and possesses all the negative tendencies like lust, masculine will, and will never allow men to dominate her. She believes that she is the creator of her own destiny. Chaucer gives such a confusing description about her traits, which has set a clash between the scholars whether she is feminist or anti-feminist. Unquestionably, The Canterbury Tales is Chaucer’s masterpiece which he wrote around 1386.The stories in it are told by a group of people on pilgrimage to a holy shrine in Canterbury.

The book begins with the General Prologue, in which pilgrims are introduced with apt descriptions. Lively exchanges between the pilgrims add to the suspense and beauty of the stories. The stories are rendered highly interesting on account of the themes and subjects they tackle, in various literary genres. The Wife of Bath’s Tale a woman-special story, that gives extraordinary insight into the life and passions of a woman in the secular world. Chaucer is at his best in this story and he seems to enjoy the various issues related to women, which he has craftily tackled.

Through the twists and turns and witty wordplay, he makes the story highly enjoyable for the reader. Theme--marriage roles and power: In this story Chaucer deals with two important themes relating to women. The first concerns marriage roles and power. The women of this story Alisoun, is aware of the utility of the body for access to power and control over men and to secure financial independence which is an important part of the power of women. She has married not once, twice but five times. Her marriage number one was when she was twelve, to an older man but wealthy.

She applied the body advantage principle