Independence of Women in Marriage in the Medieval Era - Essay Example

Marriage appears to be the key to continued existence, and this is what Alison, the main character, looks for and discovers in Alison's five marriages. Geoffrey Chaucer displays his talent as a writer with his "Wife of Bath's Prologue" in countless ways. It is simple to just lose ourselves inside the character of the Wife of Bath since she is vibrant and by reading her prologue, we believe as though we nearly knew her. Her exceptional qualities cause her to be prominent and her truthfulness about her personal condition is admirable, amidst other things. This phase of the tale makes it more pleasurable because such performance by women was not tolerable during the fifteenth century. Furthermore, since a man writes her prologue, we cannot help but think about why he wrote it. This imaginary character gives Chaucer a chance to address several subjects that might have been forbidden during his time. By making use of irony and wittiness, Chaucer is able to construct statements regarding women and how they are dealt with. It is ought to be noted that Chaucer was definitely seeking to embody a woman's voice. Actually, by creating the Wife of Bath, we can presume he wanted to produce a memorable personality in her. In her Prologue as part of "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath offers readers a complex portrait of a medieval woman. On the one hand, The Wife of Bath is shameless about her sexual exploits and the way she uses sexual power to obtain what she wishes. Alternatively, by doing precisely these things she is bearing out unconstructive stereotypes regarding women and showing that women are manipulative and deceiving. Although her performances might at first appear to be uprising against the male-dominated culture in The Canterbury Tales, and more commonly, the medieval era for women, there is very slight that she does that is in fact revolutionary or making powerful women of her time. Based even just on her introduction in "The Canterbury Tales" via the Prologue to the Wife of Bath's Tale, it appears from the onset that The Wife of Bath from "The Canterbury Tales" simply uses her sexual attributes for personal gain instead of trying to prove her equal status. In general, this female character stereotype is meant to be seen as a parody of sorts since she embodies a number of negative female characteristics including stupidity and arrogance; deceitfulness, and lewdness. Although she is striking back at men it is not for any deeper reason other than personal profit. It appears that in this section of the prologue to the Wife of Bath's tale, Chaucer wants his readers to laugh at this character rather than admire her for her proto-feminist stances on life and marriage. If the wife character in the Wife of Bath is meant to destroy the label of women, one could visualize that she would employ in intellectual and informed discussion with some of the constituents of her party. As it positions, however, the nearest she comes to this is by presenting her twisted consideration of the Bible. Rather conceitedly she declares in one of the significant quotes from The Canterbury Tales (and The Wife of Bath's Tale particularly), "Men may divine and glosen up and down / But well woot I express withouten lie / God bad us for to wexe and multiplye / That gentil text can I wel understone" (lines 26-30). While it can be found in the Bible that humans should procreate, it is worth noting that she prefaces this statement with a few words about how men sit and interpret the Bible. In her Prologue in the "Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer, the Wife of Bath is claiming that she too is capable of doing this and that the text is not beyond her reach. Yet, the setback with this is that she is not confirming anything about her cleverness; she is simply trying to prove or defend her loose actions along with the word of God. The Wife's symbolic techniques, however unscrupulous, achieve the desired results. The spectators cannot present instantaneous counter-arguments, and if we visualize her in the dramatic condition of speaking towards the husband, then by the moment he will have realized the erroneous belief of her argument and thought of a reply she will have propose about half a dozen more opinion. She pays off for her lack of honesty with slyness and speed, getting her means by annoying her adversary. She employs quite a few symbolic techniques to position her goals powerfully. In addition to influencing authoritative texts, she frequently puts forward the husband's believed arguments against her so as to destroy them on her individual terms. The points she blames the husband of constructing were normal protests against women, **which was a frequently-used source of material for mediaeval satires on women. Even more importantly than this, in her prologue, the Wife of Bath from "The Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer is not trying to present herself as a woman capable of independent thought and action because she is merely using the Bible, a text associated with the male authority, to back up her assertions. In other words, as expressed in the Wife of Bath's Prologue within the "Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer, she is simply working within the patriarchy rather than outside of it and thus only confirms negative stereotypes about women, especially since the insights she offers are twisted, misunderstood, or simply wrong. For instance, at one point she talks about the Bible again, saying, "Where can ye saye in any manere age / That hye God defended marriage / By expres word I praye you, telleth me / Or where he commanded virginitee" (lines 65-68). She is simply justifying bad behavior with the Bible and her botched misinterpretations of it and this makes her appear foolish rather than educated. It confirms the stereotype of women in medieval times that women are not as capable at understanding the deep meanings and mysteries of the Bible and that if they are given some education about it, they would only use it to justify lewd or sinful conduct. Throughout her prologue in "Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer, the Wife of Bath confirms misogynistic stereotypes of women since she presents herself as little more than what can quite technically be called a whore. Instead of being a revolutionary female figure with feminist intentions, she merely seeks husbands who will provide for her in exchange for sexual favors. For her, a "good" husband is, as she states in one of the important quotes from the Wife of Bath's Prologue in "The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer "goode, and riche, and olde" (line 203) and is easy prey when she decides to pull tricks such as make them think she is out at night looking for his women while she is having a good time, only to turn this around later for monetary benefit. As she willingly states to her audience, "An housbonde wol I have I wol nat lette / Which shal be both my detour and my thrall" (lines 160-161). For the Wife of Bath, money, sex, and marriage are all interlinked and none can exist without the other. Furthermore, to support this idea about the way the Wife of Bath perpetuates negative stereotypes of women during the time of Chaucer, it is important to note that in the Wife of Bath's prologue, if she finds that a particular man is not giving her enough money, she simply withholds sexual favors from him. While this may at first seem to be a case of a medieval woman exerting her independence, the only true power she possesses is that of her sexuality-something that she has realizes is fading with her youth. With her views on money, sex, and marriage, the only thing that seems to separate her from her from a "woman of the night" is the fact that there is a legally binding contract behind it all. This is far from a feminist ideal of a solid marriage and is much more closely aligned with ages-old misogynistic stereotypes of bad women. When the Wife of Bath states in her prologue in "The Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer, "I would no lenger in bed abide / If that I felte his arm over my side/ Til he hadde made his ransom unto me" (lines 415-418) she is not only confirming the stereotype of women as being obsessed with money and using their sexual power to obtain it, she is also proving to her audience (both in the text and to the modern reader) that love is not something that an "empowered" woman is prone to. However, this impression of her is turned on its head and she shows herself to be a contradiction when she speaks of her last husband. He was a much younger man and beat her, but she loved this and loved this man because of it. This is an even more perplexing image of woman. The Wife character is far more than a comical drawing; she had deepness, and her human sympathy is revealed in numerous ways. If we were to consider that she was unconscious of her errors, and incapable to examine and recognize herself, we might be far less overwhelmed by her than is the situation, but there is sufficient evidence to propose that beneath her energetic and vulgar exterior she happens to be a clever dependable woman. Along these lines, it becomes apparent in even a cursory analysis of "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" in "The Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer how, when one On the one hand, the reader understands that this woman has a complex understanding of marriage, but this is not enough to compensate for the fact that she allows herself to be beaten up. Even though she does fight back on occasion, in the end she has proven herself not to be at all revolutionary or proto-feminist, instead she is simply the same version of female that occurs frequently throughout medieval and other literature. She tries to present herself as strong and independent, but in the end she is even more a part of the negative stereotype than a normal woman might be. While it can be argued that the Wife of Bath could be an early feminist character, there are too many aspects to her that indicate how she is working within the system rather than outside of it. For a medieval woman to be truly feminist or revolutionary, she must find a way to prove herself in a manner both on part with and independent of men. The Wife of Bath chooses to use the patriarchal systems of religion (especially through her "discussions" on the Bible) and marriage to her own benefit rather than seeking more sweeping or meaningful changes. If it were not intended for her competence for objectivity her explanation would be humorless and self-accusing, but she recognizes what she is doing and takes liability for her performances. She distinguishes that not everyone will regard her manners as well as her behavior constructively. The tale enlightened by The Wife of Bath, even though it has a more solemn and moral attitude than her prologue, is in several ways a continuance of her prologue, the tale and the manner wherein it is told being conquered by her character, positions, and beliefs. The most noticeable connecting relationship between the prologue as well as the tale is the general theme which is the independence of women in marriage. References: 1. David, Aers, Chaucer, Langland, and the creative imagination / David Aers, Published by London ; Boston : Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980, ISBN: 071000351X. 2. Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400, The wife of Bath / Geoffrey Chaucer ; edited by Peter G. Beidler, Alt Author: Beidler, Peter G., Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400. Wife of Bath's tale. Published by: Boston : Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, c1996, ISBN: 0312158599 (hardcover), 0312111282 (pbk.), 0333657063 (pbk). 3. Abrams, M. H., et al, "Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" of The Canterbury Tales. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton 2000. Read More