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Struggle For Female Equality in Wife of Baths Prologue...
Struggle For Female Equality in The Wife of Baths Prologue and Tale When Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales, the social structure of his world was changing rapidly. Chaucer himself was a prime example of new social mobility being granted to members of the emerging middle class. He had opportunities to come into contact not only with earthy characters from varied ports of call, but with the wealthy nobility. He was also married to a knights daughter, someone of higher birth than himself, a clear demonstration of a more lenient class structure (pp. 76 - 77*). As a member of this changing society, Chaucer had a keen perception of the attitudes and philosophies which were emerging and shaping the roles specific to peoples lives.â⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦(p. 118, ll. 61-64) In this manner, the wife addresses and dispels the justification for looking down on women who have been married more than once. She shows that they are comparable in morals to men who have also had more than one spouse. Women are also subject to what would now be termed Catch 22s in their relationships with men. These inescapable paradoxes from which men are exempt are also part of what the wife believes is keeping women subservient. As part of her invective against one of her husbands, the wife explains how women are often put in no-win situations. She says, And if that she be fair, thou verray knave, / Thou saist that every holour wol hire have (p. 122, ll. 259-60). She then shows how women are stigmatized even if they are ugly, because then they become the ones with voracious sexual appetites: And if that she be foul, thou saist that se Coviteth every man she may see; For as a spaniel she wol on him lepe, Til that she finde som man hire to chepe. (p. 173, ll. 271-74) No matter what the womans characteristics, men employ a double standard that prevents her from realizing virtue. Of five housbondes scoleying amShow MoreRelatedThe Wife Of Bath s Prologue And Tale990 Words à |à 4 PagesThe Wife of Bath s Prologue and Tale is about female empowerment it shows strong protagonists. I believe Geoffrey Chaucer used The Wife of Bathââ¬â¢s Tale to advocate for feminism. Chaucer used a strong female character to expose female stereotypes. It was an oppressive time for women in male-dominated society. During the Middle Ages, Chaucer wrote from a womanââ¬â¢s point of view something that was not normal at that time. He set his feminist ideals through the characters of the Wife of Bath and the oldRead MoreThe Wife Of Bath s Prologue And Tale1697 Words à |à 7 PagesGuest English 470 04 April 2016 Empowering Women, or Degrading Them? Exploring Anti-Feminism in The Wife of Bathââ¬â¢s Prologue and Tale. 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