The Wife of Bath: a Symbol of Antifeminism

The get hitched with woman of clean A Symbol of Antifeminism Evelyn Cunningham, libber advocate and journalist states, Women be the only oppressed group in our indian lodge that lives in intimate association with their oppressors, this quote was said by Evelyn Cunningham a feminist advocate and journalist. This quote still holds true non only in todays society but in literature are well. It is no secret that women in literature are seen as less(prenominal) than equal to men. This is especi altogethery true about The wife of bath of Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales.The Canterbury Tales tells the story of a group of people making a pilgrims journey and tell stories to pass the time. The characters in The Canterbury Tales comment on society by dint of the tales they tell. One of those characters is The wife of Bath whose extended prologue is a fictional autobiography. The wife of Baths prologue and tale display Chaucers antifeminist idea to society Chaucer, the autho r behind The Wife, uses her to demean women cozyly, mentally, and socially.Chaucer writes The Wife of Bath to have no boundaries when talking about sex, and in the middle ages this was very much frowned upon. The Wifes sexual forwardness can be seen in the prologue, Chaucer writes, Experience, though noon auctoritee / Were in this world, were right y-nough to me / To speke of wo that is in marriage(). The experience she is referring to is of execute sex. Chaucer has her boasting about how much sexual experience she has. How much sexual experience one has is highly inappropriate for a woman of each time era to boast about.By showing off how experienced she is in the bedroom, Chaucer makes the Wife of Bath sexually objectify herself. Thus, Chaucer is making the statement that women should only be seen as sexual objects and should be placed submissively to men, and thusly demeans the female race in a sexual manner. Chaucer has the Wife cite the Bible in her prologue. During the mi ddle ages the Bible was not translated so it was not widely known. The fact that Chaucer has The Wife misquote the Bible is making women into a joke because there is no way she would even have this information. Makes her pick up stupid and single minded. Trying to come up with arguments why its ok to have sex and marry multiple times. Twists it around to defend herself. Quotes half verses, distorts what little she knows. However, Chaucer writes so that The Wife of Bath completely misinterprets the Bible and therefrom is humiliating women in a mental way for instance, Chaucer writes, But this backchat is nat take of every brute, / But ther as god list obtain it of his might. I woot wel, that thapostel was a mayde / But natheless, thogh that he wroot and sayde, / He wolde that every wight were swich as he, / Al nis but conseil to virginitee Because The Wife is publically announcing her misconception of the Bible it shows that Chaucer considered women to be mentally below men an d shows that he used The Wife of Bath to spread his antifeminist ideas to society. Chaucer uses The Wife of Bath to show women in a leisurely light. In her prologue, The Wife of Bath says that she has been married five times and hopes to be married a sixth for example, general prologue promiscuous quote.Wants to get married again for sex not companionship Chaucer wirtes, For, lordinges, sith I twelf yeer was of age, / Thonked be God that is eterne on lyve, / Housbondes at chirche-dore I have had fyve The Wife of Bath does not marry for love, she marries so she can have sex. This can be seen as promiscuous behavior because she is casually marrying to casually have sex. Chaucer uses the Wife of Bath to socially demean women because he makes The Wife of Bath take agency in promiscuous behavior.Throughout literature and history women have constantly been seen as less equal to the male race. This is evident in Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer uses The Wife of Bath as a s ymbol for the female race and through his story he displays his antifeminist views sexually, mentally and socially. Whether women are better than men I cannot say but I can say they are sure enough no worse, this quotes should be kept in mind while reading The Canterbury Tales because Cahucer imposes his antifeminist views on his readers.Talks about husbands as being in take of them and brags about her faults of stereotype of women. Accused husbands of cheating when it was really me. Spent all their money. Fourth husband cheated on him. Fifth husband younger. 1 . lines 4-6 2 . Golda Meir feminist activist