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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A paper which looks at several critical perspectives on Chaucer's Wife of Bath, taking into account her views on gender, marriage, and female economic independence. Bibliography lists 5 sources
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5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JL5_JLfbth.rtf
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of critical material about her. Although the information which we glean about her, from the Prologue and Tale, is often interpreted in terms of modern feminism, it must be remembered
that this is imposing a modern political gloss on Chaucers text; we cannot judge the Wifes actions by the constraints of our current cultural ideologies. On the other hand, since
we are unable to travel back in time to Chaucers day, our critical commentary is bound to be influenced to a greater or lesser degree by our own preconceptions about
the social position of women, the importance of commodification and trade, and how institutions such as marriage influence gender roles. For instance Caruthers (1979) points
out that much of Alisouns complaints concern the phenomenon of "history written by the winners": the lion in the fable looks at the picture of a man killing a lion,
and notes that if the lion had painted the picture, it would have been the other way round. Alisoun then goes on to consider the relationship between experience and authority,
saying that if women told tales of "marital woe" with the same level of authority as is granted to men, then the men would have their "wikkednesse" exposed. Caruthers also
makes the point that although Alisoun has been defined as trying to eliminate authority altogether, in the sense that she seems to be setting up a form of marriage in
which the female is the dominant partner. However, in fact Alisoun "does not deny authority when authority is true" (Caruthers, 1979, PG), she simply insists that authority should take note
of experience rather than trying to undermine it. The fable of the lion and the painting demonstrates that "truth" is often structured according to the person telling the story, or
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