For Monday: Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue”
Answer TWO of the following...
Q1: The beginning of the Wife of Bath’s Prologue is a
defense of multiple marriages using her own interpretation of the Scriptures.
What is her basic argument, and why might this have been shocking for its
time—particularly considering the many Church figures in the audience?
Q2: At one point, the Pardoner interrupts, claiming he was
thinking about marriage, but the Wife of Bath claims, “You wait...you’ll taste
another brew before I’m done;/You’ll find it doesn’t taste as good as ale”
(263). What are her views about marriage, especially considering she’s done it
five times? Is she trying to discourage men and women from tying the knot, or
does she simply have a less chivalric view of wedded bliss? Discuss a moment that seems to illustrate
this.
Q3: Toward the end of the Prologue, the Wife of Bath claims,
“Lies, tears, and spinning are the things God gives/By nature to a woman, while
she lives” (269). She goes on to say that “No one can be so bold—I mean no
man--/At lies and swearing as a woman can” (264). How do you respond to her
characterization of women in this Prologue? Is she a forward-thinking,
bold-as-brass proto-feminist, or is she just another male stereotype of an
overly sensual, bitchy wife? What sways
you one way or the other?
Q2: The Wife of Bath loves the idea of marriage. It is something she enjoys to do and be a part of. She states "Better it is to marry than to burn," and "And as for being married, he lets me do it / Out of indulgence, so there's nothing to it." She marries out of simply for the fun of it. It is her indulgence to satisfy her own wants and desires. Therefore, to her it carries no substantial weight. It is her vice and delicacy. She has a much less chivalric view of marriage. It is about satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteQ4: I believe it is because he was the hardest to gain control of or even marry. For his part of the story, it was not until the very end that he even became her husband. It took a deal of blows for him to finally succumb to her control. He was her greatest battle and achievement.
He gave the bridle over to my hand,
Gave me the government of house and land,
Of tongue and fist, Indeed of all he'd got.
I made him burn that book upon the spot.
And when I'd mastered him, and out of deadlock
Secured myself the sovereignty of wedlock,
He allowed her to live as she wanted for the rest of their lives, so long as she guarded her honour and estate.
Q.2) I think she only married for money and for fun. She wanted nice things and she didn't want to be alone. She used her sexual assets to control men. I think she got pleasure in to being able to control men. This made her feel powerful and in control. I believe she definitely has a less chivalric view of marriage.
ReplyDeleteQ.4) I believed she loved her fifth husband the most because she says he is the only one she married out of love instead of money. Also, she couldn't control him. Women want what they cannot have and they like a challenge. Her last husband was a challenge for her unlike the other men.
Q1. She views marriage as an adventure where she uses all her assets to her advantage. This is shocking for many reasons, mostly being that as a woman (and wife) she isn't subservient and that she has little to no shame about talking about her previous marriages. She sees her prior unions as a medal of achievement where she got her way. In just about everything if her stories are to be believed.
ReplyDeleteQ4. Probably because he's her biggest accomplishment. At first, he was the dominant personality, but after the accident he gives all control to her through guilt. That, and she clearly enjoyed the sex, which is barely mentioned with the previous husbands. Managing a complete reversal of roles was clearly quite a goal of hers. Or, at least it was a great achievement to her.
Kenia Starry
q1. In the beginning she is arguing that even though the great men of the bible say it is Godly to remain pure and chaste, that the bible doesn't say she *can't* have many husbands... Well, it does, once or twice, but only in certain circumstances that don't apply to her, of course. She sees it as she is just doing as her body was made to do--be pleasing and reproduce! It is shocking because women who were so active as she was weren't looked highly upon, and I'm almost curious how she managed to keep finding men who would even want to marry a woman who had so many husbands before. She was certainly not what the women raised their daughters to be like (aside from her mother who clearly had her own tricks to pass on!).
ReplyDeleteq4. If you go on to read her story you know that she believes all women desire to have control over their husbands and perhaps that's what made her fall in love with husband #5; she tried so hard for so long to convince him to marry her that she actually began to develop feelings for him that weren't entirely physical. It was the chase that pulled her in.
Q1: The Wife of Bath argues that God never specified a specific number of allowed spouses. She quotes several passages from the bible. She says that someone once told her Jesus only graced one wedding, so she should only marry once. She responds by saying "God bade us all to wax and multiply" and that her husband is under God's command to leave his parents and take a wife, however, there is "no word of what the number [is] to be" (page 259). She further argues her point with a quick reference to King Solomon who had a thousand wives, and yet he is highly revered in scripture; she makes the same point about Abraham and Jacob. The shock value of the Wife of Bath's prologue is seeded in the fact that she is a woman, openly discussing sex and marriage and using biblical passages to back it up. During Chaucer's time, women were not usually allowed to make meaningful speeches or argue a point, but the Wife of Bath does so flawlessly.
ReplyDeleteQ3: The Wife of Bath is described to fit every stereotype that was tied to women in Chaucer's day (and probably even now). Despite fitting these stereotypes, I believe the Wife of Bath tears them to pieces when she opens up about the humiliation and frustration of being surrounded by insulting stories about women. The moment that allowed me to see her as a feminist is when she became completely fed up with her husband's sexist book and ripped two pages out. This passage of her prologue showed she had feelings and she acted upon them. It made her relatable; it made her equal - human.
Q1: Alison, which we discover is the given name of "The Wife of Bath" does not believe in the religious thoughts on marriage. In her mind, all of her husbands have died, so she has the right to marry again. She does not believe that a woman should only be married one time in her life. Alison does not think she is doing anything wrong by marrying after the death of her husband. If her former husband was still alive, she might see the situation differently, but if men of the bible are allowed to have multiple wives, why can't she have multiple husbands?
ReplyDeleteQ4: I believe that Alison loves her fifth husband the most, because he is actually a challenge for her. All of her other husbands would give up their fortune and everything to her, but would still want control of her life. She made them pay the price and she was okay with that. With Johnny, it was a different story. With Johnny, he took everything she had collected from her previous marriages and was still controlling her life. She did not appreciate the fact that she was some piece of possession to him. So, when she had to fight for what she wanted, and ended up getting it in return, she developed respect and more love for Johnny than just lust and greed. He did not have anything when they were first married. He just had a loving nature towards Alison. After marriage, she was able to discover who he really was, and in reality, I think she was grateful that someone was actually real with her and didn't just follow the code because they had to.
-Jessica Johnson
#2 - I think she used the analogy of tasting another brew as a comparrison to the herself and the others. She has been married so many times that she feels like she has somthing to offer why else would five different men want her. You go on and try that other but you will be back. I have five references - what does she have to offer?
ReplyDelete#4 - I think husband #5 is thought more of because he did not give into her and her demanding ways. She ran over/had her with the previous four. The bad guy is always sought after. I think #5 was this to her. He had nothing to offer to her other than love so losing himself for her/her wealth, was going to do him no favors. He taught her that true love can be real when neither are trying to out do their partner.
Rook Rawls
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