Feminism in the Wife of Bath

Feminism in the Wife of Bath

  • Submitted By: bianca57
  • Date Submitted: 11/02/2008 7:51 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1196
  • Page: 5
  • Views: 2

Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" explores many different human emotions and universal ideas that transcend time. This makes his stories relevant in today's modern age. In "The Wife of Bath's Prologue", Chaucer tells the life story of a female character named Alisoun that had a very interesting outlook on life and made many questionable decisions throughout her life. The character is speaking to her fellow pilgrims on their way to Canterbury and telling them the highlights of her life which mostly involve her marrying different men and using her sexuality to gain wealth and power. One may argue that Alisoun set a terrible example of how a women should be in life and adds to the argument made by anti-feminists that believe women are in no way shape of form equal to or better than men. On the other hand one may argue that Alisoun represented one of the first true feminists because of the way she treated men and constantly thrived to overcome the hurdles created by anti-feminists. Lines 153 to 168 of "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" briefly show Alisoun's views on why she was put on this earth, marriage, and sexual intercourse. However, when closely reading this passage, one can see how these lines summarize her entire story. It also serves as a battleground for the contrasting arguments of those who believe she is an anti-feminist figure and those who consider her to be the first true feminist. Alisoun is in reality a rough outline of what feminism will eventually embody. However, her character flaws prevent her from truly blossoming into a true feminist heroin. The aforementioned lines demonstrate how Alisoun teeters back and forth between succumbing to the anti-feminist stereotypes and shining as a true feminist.
The first piece of the passage, "In swich estaat as God hath cleped us/ I wol persevere: I nam nat precious" (lines 153-154), Alisoun shows how she is an independent person. No matter what God throws her way, she will persevere...

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