margot bennett, published in 1952 wrote the wife of bath's tale.
who wrote the wife of bath's tale?
margot bennett, published in 1952
geoffrey chaucer wrote the 'prologue of the wife of bath's tale' during the fourteenth century at a time when the social structure was rapidly evolving while richard ii was in reign; it was not until the late 1380s – mid 1390s when richard ii's subjects started to take notice of how he was leaning toward bad counsel, causing criticism throughout his court. it was evident that changes needed to occur within the traditional hierarchy of king richard ii's ensemble; chaucer chose to address the change of events that he noticed through 'the prologue of the wife of bath's tale' to illustrate the imbalance of power within the male dominated society. women were not identified by their social status, but solely by their relations with men rather than being identified by their occupations; a woman was either a maiden, spouse or widow who was only capable of bearing children, cooking and other "women's work".
the wife of bath's tale
this prologue is by far the longest in "the canterbury tales" and is twice as long as the actual story, showing the importance of the prologue to the significance of the overall tale. in the beginning the wife expresses her views in which she believes the morals of women is not merely that they all solely desire "sovereignty", but that each individual woman should have the opportunity to make the decision. "the wife of bath", contradicts many of the typical customs of the time and provides an overbearing assessment in which the roles of women in society are bound to accept it quietly. the wife of bath knows the stories of many holy men who have had multiple wives and says: well i know abraham was a holy man, and jacob as well, as far as i know, and each of them had more than two wives. and many other holy men did as well. when have you seen that in any time great god forbade marriage explicitly? tell me, i pray you. through this quote, she addresses why society should not look down on her or any other female who has wed to multiple men throughout their life. the tale confronts the double standard and the social belief in the inherent inferiority of women, and attempts to establish a defence of secular women's sovereignty that opposes the conventions available to her. the wife of bath's tale argues that women are morally identical to men who have also had more than one spouse. double standards for men and women were common and deeply rooted in culture.
the wife of bath's tale