Medieval English Flashcards
Wife of Bath quotes
Of tribulacion in mariage,
Of which I am expert in al myn age –f
This is to seyn, myself have been the whippe. (III.179–181)
The image of the whip solidifies her role as master; she tells everyone that she is the one in charge in her household, especially in the bedroom.
- she is the first the speak about marriage from her perspective, turning the tradition of men speaking about marriage on its head
Context of the Wife of Bath
- Chaucer drew on many misogynist writing that particularly supported by the church
- Traditional men were seen as spiritually, rationally, intellectually higher than women who were considered more earthly, materialistic and irrational.
- women were viewed as objects of destruction that seduced and devalued men
- A monk called Jovinian came along and attacked the old belief that marriage was a necessary evil.
What is the Wife of Bath’s Tale about?
- The ‘Wife of Bath’s Tale’ is told to show what women most desire.
- Throughout her tale, traditional values of leadership and supremacy are reversed.
- In the ‘Wife of Bath’s Tale,’ it is the queen and the ladies of the court who serve as justices and determine the punishment for the knight instead of King Arthur.
Wife of Bath: Feminist text?
- marries multiple times
- remarks on what women desire
- ladies of the court who serve as justices rather than King Arthur
- wife of bath defies common stereotypical conception of women by displaying a rather boisterous female character
- she is a rebel who doesn’t like following authority
- she considers herself as an expert on marriage and women
- sensual women who enjoys sexual relations (feminist, antifeminist)
- makes references to the bible to justify her beliefs
- she is the first the speak about marriage from her perspective
Because the statements that the Wife of Bath attributes to her husbands were taken from a number of satires published in Chaucer’s time, which half-comically portrayed women as unfaithful, superficial, evil creatures, always out to undermine their husbands, feminist critics have often tried to portray the Wife as one of the first feminist characters in literature. Chaucer is satirising archaic views on women.
Anti-Feminist views on marriage
The notion that a widowed woman ought not to marry again was a commonplace during this time period. According to this way of thinking, instead of marrying again, a woman should become a nun or at least live the rest of her life in celibacy.
Wife of Bath on sex
But wel I woot expres, withoute lye,
God bad us for to wexe and multiplye:
That gentil text can I wel understonde.
(27-29)
One of the Wife’s strongest supports in favor of a life filled with sex is Genesis 1:28, where God tells Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” It’s hard to deny that it’s impossible to obey this commandment without having sex!
shows understanding of the bible and her perspective on it. Displays that she is not ignorant.
she uses her sexuality as an instrument to exercise power
Feminist quotes on Wife of Bath
Now herkneth how I bar me proprely:
Ye wyse wyves
The Wife’s address to “ye wyse wyves” is curious, given the fact that there are no other married women in the company of pilgrims (all the other women on pilgrimage are nuns). This is a moment where the imaginary setting gives way to the poem’s knowledge of itself as a poem, addressed to a wider audience that probably includes wives.
A wys womman wol bisye hire evere in oon
To gete hire love, ye, ther as she hath noon.
(215-216)
This is the first of the Wife’s pronouncements about what a wise woman ought to do, or does. Most of these pronouncements are, like this one, concerned with teaching women how to place themselves in a position of greater power in a relationship. Here the Wife advises that it’s always better to make a man fall in love with you so that you can use his love to gain power over him.
she uses her sexuality as an instrument to exercise power
She admits proudly to using her verbal and sexual power to bring her husbands to total submission.
Genre of Wife of Bath
The text of the Wife of Bath’s Prologue is based in the medieval genre of allegorical “confession.” In a morality play, a personified vice such as Gluttony or Lust “confesses” his or her sins to the audience in a life story. The Wife is exactly what the medieval Church saw as a “wicked woman,” and she is proud of it—from the very beginning, her speech has undertones of conflict with her patriarchal society.
Wife of Bath: feminist or antifeminist
The only power The Wife of Bath holds over her husbands is her sexuality, which she realizes is fading. She’s shamless about her sexual exploits and acts out negative stereotypes of women. … Though the “Wife of Bath’s Tale” generally seems like a medieval tale of feminism, there are hints of antifeminism throughout.
Marie de France facts
- poet writing in French vernacular
- appealed to barons, knights, counts, and ladies
- work was praised
- lays are concerned with noble lovers
- dedicated work to the ‘noble’ king
- themes of magic and mystery
- Lanval is about a mortal lover and a fairy bride
- French was the language of the Elite
- Marie explores the theme of great love that cannot exist in conjunction with the real world.
Feminist points on Lanval/Sir Launfal
antifeminist:
- lady represents Lanval’s sexual awakening
- nameless beauty with no personality
- presented as otherworldly, story is fairytale, she represents the male desire and the female ideal which so often cannot be attained
- she represents transition from boyhood to manhood through the image of masturbation (self-gratification and act is done in secret)
- she embodies the image of beauty and purity which ties into the female idea from the perspective of men
feminist:
- lady saves the knight which compound traditional gender roles of the man saving the woman.
Lanval on love
- Marie explores the theme of great love that cannot exist in conjunction with the real world.
- Lanval’s love is meant to exist apart from society shown through the abandonment of his horse and town/people
- Marie wishes us to realize, however, the tragedy that such an intensely personal love will always be at odds with the world
- Indeed, the world is an ugly place, where loyalty is not rewarded, and the cruel lies of the insulted queen can force a trial. It’s no wonder that the lady asks that Lanval keep their love secret: such beauty, known only to two lovers, has no place in the ugly world.
- it is equally useful to remember that she is too good to be true, as much fantasy as reality.
- While Marie does not paint this in a moral light (i.e., masturbation is bad), it is plausible to read one message of the lay as a warning against giving too much credence to our fantasy at the expense of the world that we are necessarily a part of.
- Ultimately, the two are reunited in a happy ending, but it can’t take place in the world. Instead, they take off for Avalon, a mystical realm, and he is never again seen.
Lanval quotes
‘the lily and the young rose
when they appear in the summer
are surpassed by her beauty’
‘she was whiter than the hawthorn flower’ - hawthorn symbolises the entrance to the otherworld in traditional folklore
‘love stung him with a spark
that burned and set fire to his heart’
‘that I shall be with you
The Miller’s Tale quotes
‘for she was wilde and yonge, and he was old’
‘fair was this yonge wit, and therwithal,
as any wesele, hir body gent and smal’
‘a barmeloth as white as morne milk’ (apron)
The Miller’s Prologue quotes
‘It is a sinne and eek a greet folye
To apairen any man or him defame
and eek to bringen wives in swich fame (reputation)
