Analysis of the Wife of Bath in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

Analysis of the Wife of Bath in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales Chaucer opens the â€Å"Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales† describing twenty-nine people going on a pilgrimage. It can be recognized from the way people behave today, that they had a distinct personality. In comparison with the other people, Chaucer made The Wife of Bath stand out from the other characters.The Wife of Bath is described intentionally in a way to provoke a shocking response. Chaucer described her clothes, her physical features, and her past in a way that causes the reader to wonder if she fits the rules imposed by Christians regarding womanly behavior. By their actions, women were categorized as saints or sinners according to Christian tradition. The sinner or the saint were represented by two women. Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, symbolized purity, while Eve was a sinner because she caused the downfall of all men. The Wife of Bath is a headstrong woman of her time. She wears ten pounds of clothes and a hat, showing off with pride her Sunday clothes. Her clothing symbolized that she isn’t shy and also shows off her expertise as a weaver. Chaucer chooses his words carefully to describe the Wife of Bath distinctly. Her facial and bodily features description is sexually suggestive. Chaucer’s description of the Wife of Bath should be noticed. In the â€Å"Prologue of the Wife of Bath’s Tale†, Chaucer describes her physical appearance describing her cloth, legs, feet, hips, and and the most important her gap-tooth, which symbolized sensuality and lust. He describes how talented weaver and devoted Christian she is. She goes on pilgrimages often. This seems quite unbelievable for the reader, but later the reader sees that actually, the Wife of Bath doesn’t go on these pilgrimages in due to religion. She just goes because she thinks that every place should be seen. She is a dedicated traveler, a medieval tourist who likes to sightsee.The Wife of Bath is a self-confident woman, she thinks highly of herself and her skills. It is ironic when Chaucer describes that she has a gap between her teeth. In the fourteenth century, the gap between the teeth was symbolic of sensual nature. She’s not interested in anything that has to do with homemaking, she’s interested in love. Chaucer said that she has been married five times: â€Å"Housbondes at chirche dore she hadde five†. She knew all the â€Å"remedies of love†. One other important element in her description is that she is deaf in one ear. In both â€Å"The Prologue of the Wife of Bath’s Tale† and â€Å"The Tale of the Wife of Bath†, she discusses virginity, marriage, and the question of sovereignty. The Wife of Bath is a strong-willed woman, and also a dominant woman who gets what she wants when she wants it. She doesn’t know the term â€Å"defeat† no matter what the cost and consequence. She thinks that men should obey her. She doesn’t want to be told by others what to do, especially by a man. She shows her power-thirsty attitude when she says: â€Å"In wifhood wol I use myn instrument as freely as my Makere hath it sent. If I be dangerous, God yive me sorwe: myn housbonder shal it han both eve and morwe whan that him list come forth and pay his dette. An housbonde wol I have, I wol nat lette, which shal be bother my dettour and mt thral, and have his tribulacion withal upon his flesh whil that I am his wif†. She uses her body as a weapon, and she says that she owns he r husband, who owes her. She thinks that her husband should bow to her because she is his wife. The Wife of Bath considers that experience is authority, and she was married five time, so that makes her authoritative. She uses the Bible as justification of her behaviour, even though she is not religious. She describes her lives with her five husbands, and also how she had control over four of her husbands saying â€Å"I governed hem so wel after my lawe†. Later, she says â€Å"For God it woot, I chidde hem spitously†. She says that she is doing this for God. The Wife of Bath is thirsty of attention, sexually and as a person as well. She is upset when her fifth husband is interested more in books than in her. It seems that her fifth husband excite her because the Wife of Bath likes challenges. She rips pages out of her husband’s book about how bad women are. Her husband gets angry, and he hits her, and she becomes deaf. After, she tries to make him feel guilty pretending that she is dead. She doesn’t try to make him understand he made something wrong, she just tried to achieve power and authority, which she gained. The Wife of Bath doesn’t care about changing the world for the benefit of other women. She is not fighting for the rights of women, who are subordinate to men, she is not a feminist. She is experienced and she says she knows what pleasures men. She gives men what they desire, meaning sexual pleasure from her. She’s not fighting for the liberation of women. It’s a non-feministic view. She is manipulating men with the help of sex, just as men do to women. She believes in sexual freedom. It goes against feministic beliefs, giving men what men desire. The Wife of Bath has the choice of not giving the men what he desire, but she gives anyway men what he desires, because she experienced sex before and she knows that men enjoy it. It confuses the reader because it goes against feminist way. Firstly, the reader thinks that she is feminist and that she tries to win women freedom. She said that men are suffering because of women. She is selfish, filled with a hunger for se x and control an all men.I cannot relate to her because she is an extremely selfish, power-hungry, and immoral women. The Wife of Bath’s character focuses on craving for sex and impuls to give men pleasures through sex, to give men what men desire. I think that even in our modern society, no one will think that her actions are justified.

Migration and Sexual Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Migration and Sexual Health - Essay Example stion, the report has established that MSM are more prone to acquiring STIs than their heterosexual partners because unprotected anal intercourse presents more chances of acquire STIs than virginal intercourse. On the third question, it has been conclusively noted that the sexual and reproductive health of African migrants is gendered in its effects because men have more powers and privileges over the sexuality and reproduction of their female partners. This present report is primarily based on the topics of migration and sexual health. In the context of the report, the term ‘migration’ will be used to refer to the movement of people from one region to another while the term ‘sexual health’ will be used to refer to the â€Å"state of mental, physical, emotional, and social well-being of a person in terms of sexuality (Rutter and Schwartz, 2012) and (Crooks and Baur, 2014). In order to broaden the understanding of the topic area it is important to note that the term ‘sexuality’ refers to the sexual habits and desires of a person. The study on migration and sexual health cuts across as unique in the field of academics because not so many studies have been dedicated to look into the relation of migration and sexual health. In particular, this present study will look at the migration of Africans from various African countries into the United Kingdom. It is important to note that over the past years dating back to the late part of the 20th century, there has been a continued increase of African migrants drawn from various countries into the United Kingdom. According to Spencer (2010), this trend of migration has been promoted by the fact that UK is perceived to be a greener pasture for the African migrants who believe they can easily secure well paying jobs in the country, and gain access to quality education. However, Arthur et al. (2012) added that some African migrants opted to migrate to the UK as asylum seekers in order to evade the hostile political

Collaspe of the Soviet Union Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Collaspe of the Soviet Union - Essay Example In understanding how the collapse affected the west it is important to understand what the collapse entailed. Until 1991 there had been two major superpowers battling for supremacy, this occurred in many areas; space travel, economics and the aggregation of various cultures and countries. This was accomplished through direct interference and outside pressure using various propaganda approaches as well as financial and physical methods. The West up to this point had been, at least in the West, the ideal of civilization, with a solid mixture of physical liberty and fiscal freedom and ability. With the vacuum that occurred as a result of the collapse of the U.S.S.R. There was now a direct competition between â€Å"western† influences to gather more abilities and support. The West had as a result gained the upper hand however, as a result of the militarization that occurred during the â€Å"cold war† the United States now has a large military force that is has no given obje ctive and needed to be put to use. As a result of the â€Å"cold war† defense spending in the United States had doubled in the 1980’s and the size and ability of the United States military had expanded to fill the roles needed as a front line and support in this â€Å"cold war.†