Thoughts for class 11/14:
1. Is the Wife of Bath a feminist?
2. Why does Chaucer give her such a long prologue?
3. Do you like the Wife of Bath? Why?
We will be discussing everyone's favorite list of courtly love characteristics again. Please bring them with you.
See you tomorrow,
Mr. B
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The Wife of Bath is ridiculously vain, manipulative and contradicting. But like Mrs. Malaprop of the Rivals, I adore her ridiculousness nevertheless. She's honest and though she digs her own grave of stupidity, her attempts at being blunt are somewhat honorable. I know she's not a feminist because she doesn't believe in using her resources to better the state of all women, or the view of all women. She obviously believes in using men to her advantage and making them pay for their submission. Chaucer is entertained by the Church's fear of women as evil, manipulative and the true root of all misfortune, and that's probably why he gives the Wife a long prologue, just to state every fear the Church obsesses over; in such ridiculous terms that the idea of women may seem ridiculous. But I couldn't help but love the Wife, not because she used sex to her advantage, not because she made her men submissive and NOT because she's ridiculous; I adore her because women like her, when broken or tamed, show the most endearing displays of love.
ReplyDeleteI liked the Wife of Bath. It was my favorite story of the tales. It was entertaining to read because she truly did not like men even if she did marry so many of them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ashley's statement. Like Malaprop, the Wife is so oblivious to the nature of her ignorance, she digs a whole which ends up being impossible to escape. The Wife is, in my opinion, emotionaly feministic, but not a true feminist. She hates men, but relies totally on their existence in order to exact her survival. Without the balance of marraige, the Wife would cease to be. If she were a true feminist, she would have taken her loot and started a life of her own, far from the claws of men. But I am, of course, speaking with a modern understanding of feminism. Let me say this, she was, without a doubt, a strong woman, but she was considerably weak. She had no educational foundation to speak of, which left her very, very ignorant. She was, however, extremely founded in her knowledge of what all men want... Sex, as we all know, is a HUGE piece of what makes a relationship, whether we want to admit it or not, and the Wife knew it all too well. She was manipulative, you couldn't have put it plainer, Ashley. The church, damn them, has been increasingly independent and very reliant on male dominance. Women, and their concept, threaten everything the church stood for, or so they would have the general population believe. Chaucer mocks the church, allowing us a better understanding of what he really thought about religion and its negative facets. The stereotype of the femme fatale is really what I see the Wife being the pinnacle of. She loves for money, kills for love, then repeats the whole bloody process all over again... She was smart, in her fashion, but she lacked one thing, endurance in her own stability.
ReplyDeleteThe Wife of Bath was the opposite of feminism. She gave all women a bad name, yet I can't help but respect her. She at least attempted to become educated with her fifth husband. Yet, she didn't realize her own shame, which I find hilarious. It also made more sense that Chaucer would give her such a long prologue. The reader needed to know who was telling the tale and how ironic it was. Without a proper introduction of who she really was, any person would have thought she was sweet and had a good understanding of what women wanted.
ReplyDeleteI thought the wife of Bath's tale was entertaining. It was my favorite out of all of them so far. It was ironic to hear her talk because I assumed she would hate men from hearing her speak, but obviously with her numerous amount of husbands, she was very fond of them. I thought she had a bit of a feminist view, although I don't think she was a feminist. She wasn't as independent as most feminist are,she had to depend on men for something or else she wouldn't have kept getting married.
ReplyDeleteThe Wife of Bath is a women who knows what she wants. She doesn't care if she has to astray from the church or anything else to get it. She's very controlling, manipulative and sneaky in the way to sets up situations so get what she wants. I don't think that the Wife of Bath is a feminist because she doesn't do things to uphold all women, just herself. Also in her tale, the women and the man become equal in the end. But she does use men to her own advantage. The Wife of Bath is stupid, in plain terms, because she digs herself a hole, that she gets stuck in when the Clerk presents his tale. She doesn't realize that the take she is telling is only a depiction of herself.
ReplyDeleteThe Wife of Bath is certainly no feminist because feminists wish for more respect as a whole, while the Wife of Bath is just concerned with bettering her position and doing anything it takes to make sure that happens. Of course, her primary method for doing this is seducing men and using them for whatever she wishes. I think Chaucer gave her a long prologue because he knew she was one of the more peculiar and fascinating characters in his book, and he knew that readers would probably think so as well. He dedicates more time to her because it makes her story more enjoyable too, when readers realize the irony behind her story. I personally dislike the Wife of Bath, just because she uses men, I wouldn’t really like that if it happened to me. Yes, I think women were definitely put down way too much back in those times, and maybe what she does can be classified as a little payback, which I suppose is understandable, so I don’t hate her too much.
ReplyDeleteSo happy Ash used the Rivals reference. I liked the Wife of Bath not for her actions, but because she exercised the imfamous "double standard". If the average person read the tale, without any knowledge or background, what would that person think? "She was such a...(insert whatever term you prefer)" but what if it were a guy that was using all the girls? Some male readers would be like "wow, he's really handling his business" and the females would be like "what a complete jerk", right? I like stories like this becuase it helps me look outside of our own social box and look into other worlds like TFA. So, I like the Wife of Bath for her story, but not for her actions.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe the Wife of Bath to be a feminist, for feminists support the idea that the rights of women should be equal to those of men. The Wife, however, appears to seek revenge on the group of men as a whole. She does this through interrogating individual males. For example, she wed five men. I believe these actions show that the Wife was not considering the feelings of her husbands, rather using each as a piece of her game for revenge. Unlike a feminist, the Wife hurts individual males to compromise the inequality between the sexes. Rather than make movements to improve the quality of women's lives, the Wife uses her own method of equalization. I believe she does not feel it is as important that women obtain these equal rights, rather, men should receive their punishment for viewing women as the inferior sex.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Wife is only a feminist in one aspect: she thinks that women should be treated equally. Other than that though, she's a complete idiot. Her tale is entertaining but makes all women look like idiots, which, to me anyways, is the opposite of being a feminist. Her goal is to only tear men down to the level that they see women to be at so really she doesn't strive to raise women's status, but to lower men's until they are equal. What good is that really doing? None. Women gain nothing from this and would overall still be viewed as inferior to their male counterparts. Her way of creating equality is pointless and never had any chance of working because she's an idiot.
ReplyDeleteThe Wife of Bath...well, she likes men. But, instead of another method in which she could interact with lots of men, she marries many times. She's not a feminist because she is not trying to empower the whole feminine gender. She rather belittles and nags men to death so she can snag another one. She manipulates the system without helping the whole. She builds up her estate from the earning and property of her multiple husbands which does give her some substantial power, but not really. She's still a woman after all.
ReplyDeleteThe wife if Bath is A Player. I like here and I hate her. She knows that women can play the game too. She knows what she is doing and she is still planning to do what she does best. I don't think she is a feminist. She is definitely really dumb. She really didn't have such a.....bad person. She is very egotistical and proud for the wrong reasons. All I can say is if she was alive this century she would be the best gold digger ever.
ReplyDeleteI do not think the Wife of Bath is a feminist. In a selfish way I guess she is though...Everything she does is for her betterment and not for the betterment of other women. She could care less about them. She wants herself to be taken care of. She was smart and very persuasive, which got her everything she wanted. In the end I don't think she was satisfied, because she realizes that there's more to life than sex and money. Those two things alone will not make you happy.
ReplyDeleteI think Chaucer gives her such a long Prologue so we can understand where the Wife's thinking comes from. She rationalizes all of her actions on things stated in the Bible. Her interpretation of the Bible is very much different from others.
I didn't like the Wife. I thought she was obnoxious. I don't know how her husbands put up with her. It just shows how ignorant they were for allowing her to bring them down to her level.
The Wife of Bath is not a feminist because although her tale promotes equality between men and women, she as an individual does not, as evidence in her prologue with her manipulation of her husbands and her numerous remarrying. She clearly is only concerned with herself, although does end up showing affection to her fifth husband. Chaucer gives her such a long prologue to perhaps, not only give a sense of the role of women at this time, but also to describe her complex character to give a better understanding of the tale itself, as it gives further insight to the reader. The Wife of Bath is perhaps one of those individuals that you love to hate. I do not believe in her justification of multiple marriages and manipulation as okay since that is how she interprets the Bible. I do like how she can hold to her own and her tale offers great in-depth thinking. The woman is who she is, and is not afraid to deny it.
ReplyDeleteEileen O'Shaughnessy
I loved reading the Wife of Bath's prologue. I loved her permiscuity and her bluntness. She's especially fascinating considering the time in which this was written. With that being said, if I ever met her in real life, my opinion would not be so kind. She's a fascinating character, but would most likely make a dishonerable person.
ReplyDeleteI cannot say that I believe she is a feminist. I can't find any instance where she pushes for the advancement of women as a whole. She is primarily concerned with the equality between women and men only when it affects her. I think Chuacer gives such a lengthy prologue to show the contradicting traits between the Wife of Bath and her tale.
ugh. I hate this type of character. Just reading about her gives me hives. Her behavior is embarrassing, even if she doesn't know it. You just know everyone there is looking at her like, "My gosh, did she really just say that out loud?" She contradicts herself at every turn, and make a fool of herself and all women-kind in the process. That wasn't very nice of Chaucer to do that. But then Chaucer is a woman-hater, so what do you expect? meh. I don't like this story.
ReplyDeleteI think this was my favorite of the tales because it was so entertaining. She really hated men, despite marrying so many. Though, I dont think that necessarily makes her a feminist.
ReplyDeleteMy definition of a feminist, is very different than the characteristics of this woman. A true feminist is a woman that believes in self reliance, being totally independant of the male gender, and beliving that chivelry is dead. i am for sure no expert on the subject but the wife of bath seems to rely much to heavaly on the financial assistance of her men to be a true feminist.
ReplyDeleteThe Wife of Bath is most definitely NOT a feminist. A feminist by definition attempts to secure women rights and opportunities equal to those of men. The Wife of Bath thrives off of her lack of rights and just brutalizes her husbands. It’s highly entertaining to read about her escapades, but slightly degrading to womankind. I do believe there are quite of few ‘Wives of Bath’ roaming society today. Those types of people who flourish off of others through parasitic-like behavior while spouting off stories and phrases that contradict what they actually mean.
ReplyDelete