HELP! Does ANYONE know anything about Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath’s Tale”
2006-12-05 10:37:18 · 4 answers · asked by sbttw2003 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Yes, I had to pick one of the Canterbury Tales to write a report on and I picked that one. It's basically about an old lady -who is very attracted to young men- and she first tells about her 5 husbands and how she always controls men and they do what she wants. But the one husband that she was truly in love with, commanded her around, which was kind of ironic. Then she goes on to tell her story about a knight who raped a young woman and was punished to finding out what women really want, or he would be killed by the king. He went around asking women, but none of them had good answers so he asked an old woman. She said that in exchange for the correct answer, he must marry her. He agreed because it was his only choice. Her answer was "Women desire to have the sovereignty
As well upon their husband as their love," which was correct, so he had to marry the old lady. He didn't want to marry her so she asked him if he would rather her be beautiful or faithful. He said that she could choose, so she became both beautiful and faithful because he gave her the power to choose. You can find the tale at http://www.litrix.com/canterby/cante030.htm
2006-12-05 11:00:51 · answer #1 · answered by Ana Erikson 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The theme of the Wife of Bath's Tale is not female equality in marriage, but the power struggles between the husband and wife. The wife, Alyson, does not want equal partnership with a husband, but a situation in which she has control over her spouse.
She considers herself an expert on marriage, having had five husbands herself, beginning with her first marriage at age 12.
The tale shows that the Wife of Bath sees a happy marriage as one in which the wife is firmly in control. She is an example of one of Chaucer's bawdy women.
Chaucer was taking inspiration from the significant amount of antifeminist literature around at that time, but it is unclear whether he is copying these sentiments or making fun of them.
2006-12-05 11:10:59 · answer #2 · answered by solstice 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Oh my goodness! What a wonderfully funny story! The Wife of Bath describes herself and her five dead husbands...why she married them and how they all died. Go on a website that translates it into Modern English though. unless you can read the obscure spelling in Middle English, it can seem quite complicated, but it's not.
2006-12-05 10:44:18 · answer #3 · answered by dp61450 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
She married a lot of men so she got a bad reputation. That's all I can remember... Been out of school too long I guess.
2006-12-05 10:47:30 · answer #4 · answered by ms pokeylope 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋