How are gender relationships depicted in Chaucers “Wife of Bath”?

The married cleaning woman of tubfuls Prologue and Tale is one of the twenty-four stories which make up The Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer towards the end of the fourteenth century. The premise for The Tales is that of a group of pilgrims each telling stories in order to win the prize of a free meal, the primary narrator is a nave pilgrim who is not described. The Canterbury Tales is written in Middle English, which bears a close visual resemblance to the English written and spoken today. The Tales were unfinished as Chaucer died before their limit and the order of the stories has been disputed due to the frag manpowerted nature of his work. This essay will be looking at sex relationships in The wife of Baths Prologue and Tale and in medieval Literature as a whole.Chaucers married woman of Bath is a middle-aged woman from the west country, who strides into The Canterbury Tales on a large horse with her spurs jangling and riding in the fashion of a man rather than t he military position saddle that was typical of women, ready to assert herself in the compe actually of pilgrims made almost entirely of men. gamy and elaborate in design, the wifes clothes reek of extravagance, her stockings weren of fyn scarlet reede and on hir feet a paire of spores precipitatee lay pop how wealthy she has become from her conquests of men. In the General Prologue where each of the characters is described in terms of their profession she is all the counsel a professional wife who has travelled to a greater extent than almost all of the other pilgrims making her a bold, adventurous and sociable character.Men were the ones who travelled to distant lands in search of adventure, this challenges the accepted ideas nearly gender of the time. This portrait of a woman is very peculiar for a piece of medieval books, men scarper to return the starring role and women atomic number 18 usually featured as beautiful ladies in some(prenominal)er or as ne remotei ous old hags. The married woman of Bath is neither a helpless damselfish in distress nor a typical old crone. She is the set-back of her kind in English literature.The Wife of Baths Prologue is the life story of Alison who has married five times, this in itself is unusual for a woman in medieval literature as it is usually the rogue anthropoid who has multiple lovers. Chaucer certainly informs us of Alisons backstory to a higher degree than he does the other pilgrims. There ar many pieces of literature which condemn women, from the highest class to the lowest, Chaucer does not ignore this with his characterisation of the Wife but rather embraces it to make her who she is. The Wife is noisy and bossy, she torments her husbands and has a large enough sexual appetite to compete with the most sexual of men. unless Chaucer has also made her capable of love, vulnerable, optimistic and argumentative against medieval anti-woman ideas. It is not invite whether Chaucer wants us to see with the Wife and see her as the first feminist and defender of womens rights or if we are to run into her as an elaborate joke of what would happen if a women were to ever have as much license as a man.The Wife of Baths Prologue is different from any literature which had been encountered, as is her Tale. The male lead is not a typical heroic nickname but a rapist, the main womanish role is an ugly old woman and the force of good in the story is a philander full of powerful women. All the standard ideas of gender relationships are both turned on their heads and brought into sharp focus.The Wife conforms to a number of anti-female bosss of the medieval period, stereotypes which were created by men for the purpose of a patriarchal society. She claims that she has a great sexual appetite whilst also boasting that she uses sex to gain wealth. The Wife also tells of how she controls her husbands by the use of her body, a fear which is common of villainous females in medieval liter ature and which males dread.The Wife points unwrap that there are many husbands and wives in the Bible. Some of the greatest men in the Old will were not only married but had multiple wives.Lo, heere the k at a timeing kyng, daun SalomonI trowe he hadde wyves mo than oon.As wolde God it leveful were unto meTo be refresshed half so ofte as he (35-38)This is a double standard in that these men have multiple lovers but that women apparently screwingt. By calling King Solomon wise she is conveying that wise men have multiple marriages. The Wife successfully gives examples from the Bible of people whose marriages were beatified by God despite the polygamous nature of these marriages.The Pardoner who is shocked by the Wifes revelations so far interrupts her story, he says that he was about to connect but is now not so certainly that it is a good idea. straightway, dame, quod he, by God and by Seint JohnI was aboute to wedde a wyf allasWhat sholde I bye it on my flessh so deere?Yet h adde I levere wedde no wyf to-yeere (164-168)The Wife so tells a piffling story about a medieval pardoner who worked for the Church collecting donations from those sorry for their sins and anxious to key out forgiveness. His manhood is called into question throughout the canterbury tales and his talk of taking a wife is probably an empty boast. This is a continuation of Wife of Baths theme of male impotence, she regularly taunts her celibate male adversaries in this way throughout the prologue. It was unheard of for a woman to speak this way about such matters, raze a man would think before directly insulting men of the Church.The first three husbands the Wife had were rich old men who were financially secure. The Wife treated each of these husbands badly and in a very dominating way. By beingness argumentative and eager to start trouble she ensured that they would be watchful to please her.What sholde I taken keep hem for to plese,But it were for my profit and myn ese? (213-1 4)Here the Wife of Bath uses a rhetorical question, it is clear from the tone that she doesnt think she needs to care about her husbands. The misogynists classed all women together as bad and all wives as nothing but trouble. Chaucer both confirms this stereotype here with the way the Wife treated her first three husbands but also turns it around so that the woman is in control for once and the men are indistinguishable without even a maven name between them. Chaucer makes us pity the husbands but it also limns us how below the belt women are usually treated.Chaucer outlines the Wifes general techniques on how she handles Marital trouble which are lying, cheating and accusing the pivotal gender before they accuse you. Lying and cheating were the things that medieval literature always accused the villainous women in a story of doing. The Wife is therefore acting in a very stereotypically manipulative way, and comes very close to becoming the old villainous hag which was a staple of medieval literature. Chaucer makes it clear that the Wife is a complex character and that our response to her as readers should be one of uncertainty. He makes sure we see the good aswell as the bad.The Wife of Bath goes on to describe the lies she would use to keep her first three husbands in line. Shed accuse them of lecherous behaviour and of chasing after the neighbours or servants and then unfairly accusing her about her relationship with her friend. She uses powerful but offensive imagery towards woman in order to get her point across.For as a spanyel she wol on hym lepe,But folk of wyves maken noon assay,Til they be wedded olde dotard shreweAnd thanne, seistow, we wol oure vices shewe. (267-292)The Wife of Bath uses similes to compare women first of all to animals, which should be tried by men before they are bought. They are then reduced even further being compared to ordinary objects such as basins, washbowls, spoons and stools. The men did not say these things and thi s paints the Wife of Bath in a very negative light for her deceit but at the same time other men during her period are guilty of thinking such things.The Wife boasts about how she lied to her husbands about what they say whilst drunk in order to make them feel guilty. This extract is some of the Wifes most blatant deceit and if all women were to be like this in medieval times it would be strike if men and women ever managed to live together at all. grounds liknest eek wommenes love to helle,To bareyne lond, ther water whitethorn nat dwelle.Thou liknest it also to wilde fyr (371-372)The Wife doesnt see the wickedness of her ways as is obvious when she states Yet tikled I his herte, for that he Wende that I hadde of hym so greet chiertee The choice of verb is an interesting one be energize it is much lighter than the portrayal as a whole.The Wife claims that either her or her husband must give in if they are to live in peace, and she says And sith a man is moore resonable he should be the one to give in to a greater extent easily. She then slyly puts in a comment about how she is his alone, implying that this could easily change at any moment. She is exploiting male and female stereotypes here, using a mans image of themselves as reasonable and schoolmaster against them. She is manipulating by saying that if women are so stupid and emotional, clever men should just let them have their way in order for there to be peace.The Wife of Baths youth may have now passed her by but she has no regrets. Her 4th husband however was not a very happy memory for her. She even goes on to tell us about his unfaithfulness This is to seyn, he hadde a paramour. Her dominance and power over her first three husbands now gives way to the more melancholy story of her next husband. Old women in medieval literature quite often show bitterness and loathing when they remember their youth but the Wife has no regrets. Her optimism and her grace in the way that she accepts the passing of her youth shows a softer and more vulnerable side to this manipulative and domineering woman.With the death of her fourth husband The Wife then falls in love with a man named Jankyn who was half her age. indoors a month she had married him and as an act of love she signed over all her stead to him. However, Jankyn was typical of a medieval gender role. He was a dominant man who wont be told what to do by a woman. He demands her to stop going on pilgrimages, stop talk and to generally stop all the mischievous behaviour from her past. He beats her for tearing pages out of a book and tells her of husbands who left their wives because the wives would not do as they were told.And me of olde Romayn geestes techeHow he Symplicius Gallus lefte his wyf,And hire forsook for terme of al his lyf (642-644)The Wife now has to be on the receiving end of the abuse that she has up until then caused, she is the one being henpecked and controlled. She has previously been at a distance from the ant i-women literature of the period, even used it to her advantage against her past husbands. Now she must endure the stereotypically male dominated household she has avoided for so long.The reason the Wife of Bath is desensitise is because she was struck by Jankyn for tearing out a few pages from his favourite book. It consisted of stories by the best know authors of the middle ages which condemned women.For trusteth wel, it is an impossibleThat any clerk wol speke good of wyves, (688-689)She hated this book as Jankyn used it to cause her a great deal of grief, she stated that these men dont understand women yet they are the ones writing these stories. Whats quite interesting is that all the literature she used to control her past husbands was now coming at her in a very real sense. The Wife of Bath asks the question Who peyntede the leon, tel me who? which points out that medieval women existed in a world where everything including art, religion, work, family life and literature was controlled by men.Chaucer pointing this out is well ahead(predicate) of his time in terms of social gender commentary. The Wifes ripping of the book could be seen as a symbolic gesture. The Wife used this literature against her past husbands, she had it used against her by her ordinal husband. The tearing of the book is symbolic of the Wife moving away from medieval stereotypes.After finally destination the prologue to her story the Wife of Bath moves onto her Tale. The story opens with the rape of a young maiden, the rape is described very casually as though it is somehow entirely natural that a woman is violently attacked this way.He saugh a mayde walkynge hym biforn,Of which mayde anon, maugree hir heed,By verray force, he rafte hire maydenhed (886-888)The word raft means he took her maydenhead which is not a very violent verb but it still has powerful imagery because of how casual a word it is. This can be seen as an extreme example of the way in which women are regarded as mere property. The bucks offence was against a woman so it is therefore ironic that women should step in to fulfill his life. They dont do this out of compassion or mercy though, he is to be placed in a powerless position in which the fate of his body is in the hands of another, mistakable to when a woman is raped.After a year of searching for the do to the question of what women want the sawhorse rides back to the court in despair, this is when he encounters an extremely ugly old woman who agrees to give him the answer to his question if he agrees to do something for her. After answering with Wommen desiren to have sovereynetee the old hag asks the knight to marry her. Because our knight did not know what the condition would be he is placed in a far more vulnerable position. He is completely under the old womans dominance, a turn around of the normal male female relationship. The lusty bacheler from the start of the story now hidde hym as an owle, no bimestrial dominant and in control or a stereotype of medieval man.The old woman then gives the knight an ultimatum, she can either be beautiful and unfaithful or faithful and ugly. The knight considers for a moment but decides in the end to let her make the decision which results in her being both beautiful and faithful. With the mastery handed over to the old lady, there is a switching of gender roles with the knight also getting what he wants. The knight is no longer the misogynist monster he was at the start of The Wife of Baths Tale.It could be argued that the Wife of Bath is giving a contribution to the excluded women of medieval society. Through her voice we hear and see all the devaluation and oppression which is always silent in medieval literature due to the authors being almost entirely male. The Wife could also be see as a representation of stereotypical medieval fear by men about women as cruel, emotional and sexually deviant. It is not clear in what way Chaucer meant for her to be conveyed , it is clear however that he wanted her to become a complicated character with many different layers whose gender was a brainish force for the story.