Essay on Wife of Bath Prologues vs Tale - 988 Words

The ideas and theories which the Wife of Bath provides in her prologue demonstrate many of the same ideas and theories displayed in her tale. Although in her tale there are a few idealistic changes. In both the prologue and the tale, women start off as empowered beings. At the end of the prologue the Wife of Bath ends up being in a demeaning position yet the end of the tale may be interpreted in two ways. One of the first points brought up in both the prologue and tale is the idea that sex is meant for reproduction and is used as justification in situations which society frowns upon. In the prologue, the Wife of Bath argues that having five husbands is not wrong because God wants men and women to reproduce. This justifies her being†¦show more content†¦Nearing the end of the year he has not found the answer but comes upon a ‘hag’ who has the answer. She agrees to share the answer with him but makes him promise to give himself to her as compensation. The hag, in the tale, making the Knight give her something for a simple answer coincides with the idea in the prologue that everything has a price. In the prologue, the Wife of Bath believes strongly that everything has a price, including marriage. She feels as though she fully understands the economy of marriage and has used her assets to the full extent. She explains how she used her body to gain power and wealth. In the prologue she explains that she is aware that one day her looks will go and she will no longer be able to use her body for profit. Although once this happens, she plans and hopes to use her mind to attract and manipulate men which is exactly what the hag in the tale accomplished. The hag succeeded in using her mind to trap the Knight into marriage even though once he got what he wanted from her he wanted to throw her away. Although throughout most of the tale the Wife of Bath is best compared to the hag, in the sense of dismissing someone once you have gotten wha t you want from them she is quite similar to the Knight. In the tale, the Knight avoided having his head cut off by answering the King’s wife with ‘women want to be in charge of their husbands.’ This is the answer which the old hag had given him. After being given his freedom, theShow MoreRelated Canterbury Tales Essay - Sexuality in The Wife of Bath and the Pardoner1711 Words   |  7 PagesSexuality in The Wife of Bath and the Pardoner In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, an eclectic mix of people gathers together at Tabard Inn to begin a pilgrimage to Canterbury. In the General Prologue, the readers are introduced to each of these characters. Among the pilgrims are the provocative Wife of Bath and the meek Pardoner. These two characters both demonstrate sexuality, in very different ways. 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