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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that examines the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale in regards to what it tells the modern reader about the role of women in medieval society and how women were viewed during this time. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khrobath.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
and her Tale itself offer the modern reader insight into the role of women during the Middle Ages. From what the Wife of Bath relates, it appears that women were
regarded as licentious, low creatures who tricked men into marriage and, thus, into sin. Furthermore, as the Wife of Bath illustrates, women often fought against the God-given mandate that wives
were suppose to submit subserviently to the will of their husbands. As this suggests, the way in which women were perceived and the role that they played in society was
far different in the medieval world than it is today. Today, it is taken for granted that women are the equals of men and that marriage should be a partnership.
Marriage is regarded as beneficial for both individuals and society. In the medieval period, the Church promoted virginity as the best state for human beings, both male and female. In
her Prologue, the Wife of Bath argues against this societal standard and points out, quite logically, that if all women remained virgins, there would be no one to give birth
to more virgins. Furthermore, the Wife defends marriage, arguing that while the Church may counsel a woman to remain single and virginal, counsel does not constitute a commandment (lines 71-72).
The Wife makes it clear that she has always enjoyed sex and this verifies the Churchs depiction of women as licentious. In fact, the Wife of Baths Tale makes
it clear that women were viewed as basically amoral and incapable of fidelity. If a woman was beautiful, it was taken for granted that, sooner or later, she would be
unfaithful to her husband. The Wife says, "Thou saist men may not keepe a castel wal, /It may so longe assailed been overal" (lines 269-270). It is interesting to note
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