Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Chaucer - The Tale of the Wife Of Bath. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page paper that offers a brief analysis of The Wife of Bath's Prologue and The Tale of the Wife of Bath. The writer comments on the major themes, the use of irony and satire and the relationship of The Wife to other Tales. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MM12_PGwfbath.rtf
Buy This Term Paper »
Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
could also be perceived as part of the folklore romance genre. There are references to Arthurian legend and perhaps even chivalry. The knight, for instance, submits to the judgement of
the queen. The hag has magical powers. There are a number of themes, such as experience versus life, dominance and submission, anti-feminism and the role of women, sexuality as power
versus pleasure, the marriage debt and the wife gaining control of the husbands property. In the Middle Ages, philosophers, theologians and others were still trying to determine the rightful place
of a woman in society. Women were for the most part still viewed as being deceitful and the cause of misfortune and sin. Chaucer gives the reader Dame Alice of
Bath, a woman who greatly exaggerates all of the negative characteristics and attributes assigned to women. Alice, who is she narrator, readily admits all of the negative attributes, her lust,
her deceitfulness and her self-serving manipulative ways. She has been married and widowed five times and is now searching for another husband. In her prologue, she comments on St. Pauls
comments that it is better to marry than to burn, again giving Biblical justification for her many marriages. She reminds the reader of Solomon and his many wives to basically
justify her own marriages. Thus, we can see her as the devil who uses Scripture to suit her own goals. But she also blames astrology for her lustful nature, she
is influenced by both Venus and Mars, which leads to two different set of characteristics, again, the irony of opposition. The Wife uses diametrically opposed sources of authority - the
Bible and astrology. This is another example of Chaucers use of irony in this tale. The Wife uses fictional stories about pilgrims to explain her thoughts about the marriage relationship.
...