Wife of Bath Blog: Opinion and Support: Is the Wife of Bath from the Canterbury Tales a feminist? How does her life story in the prologue and her tale represent women. Use textual evidence to support your position.
Miller's Tale Blog: Literary Element: Discuss “The Miller’s Tale” as a satire. What exactly is being literally described versus being satirized? Why does Chaucer use satire? How does Chaucer satirize human nature, the Church, and the romance? Use textual evidence to support an original, concise thesis statement.
Wife of Bath Blog: Opinion and Support: Is the Wife of Bath from the Canterbury Tales a feminist? How does her life story in the prologue and her tale represent women. Use textual evidence to support your position.
20 Comments
Sarah
9/18/2014 02:34:39 am
Wife of Bath Blog:
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Ms. M
9/22/2014 01:21:38 am
When developing your response, use direct quotes to support your ideas for full credit. You have clear answers for the questions.
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Brandon F
9/20/2014 03:19:21 am
In my opinion, I believe that she did seem to be a feminist because of the way she went through her marriages by taking advantage of her nice husbands and taking their money. This behavior showed that she was manipulative and liked to be in charge.
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Ms. M
9/22/2014 01:22:22 am
Build in more direct quotes to support your response. You have clear ideas but you need to build them more.
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Connor H
9/20/2014 10:51:56 pm
In the story “The Millers Tale” Chaucer makes fun of the carpenter’s stupidity and how he’s gullible. Nicholas tricks the carpenter into believing him that the world is ending in another flood the next morning. He has him go out and retrieve all these items needed for the three to survive. It was all a part of Nicholas and Allisons, the carpenter’s wife’s plan, so they can finally sleep together. They make fun of the church because Absalom is a “lovesick perish clerk” and how he attempts to confess his love towards Allison as well. Chaucer is mocking human nature, calling us gullible and childish, from the events that happened with Allison and Absalom’s scene with the kiss. It’s clear that Chaucer is making fun of people and their personalities.
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Ms. M
9/22/2014 01:23:25 am
Good inclusion of the quote. Use more quotes as evidence as you develop your response
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Vlad K
9/21/2014 11:49:39 pm
I believe that the Wife of Bath was a feminist. She was married to five men in the past and always took charge of the marriage. She married older men for their money, so when they died she would inheirt it all.
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Ms. M
9/23/2014 04:27:20 am
You are clear on the core issues in her life and her tale. Build in quotes to improve the response.
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Jesse T
9/22/2014 04:27:46 am
Personally, I believe that the wife of bath is a feminist. The wife of bath is a independent woman with a lot of sexual experience. She feels as if the only way for her to make it big in a man driven environment is to marry wealthy guys and wait for them to die so she can take the money. The Wife of Bath was a great example of someone who felt like they can do whatever they want, which includes sleeping and marrying many other guys which wasn't very common for the day. The WoB says : " But he made no mention of number, Of marrying two, or of marrying eight;" (lines 32-33). She felt that God never said humans aren't restricted to only marry once, and that she could marry as many times as she pleases. She also says: "God commanded us to grow fruitful and multiply;" (line 28). The WoB thinks that there is nothing wrong with having sexual relations and that God wants us to have sex and multiply.
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Ms. M
9/23/2014 04:28:42 am
Excellent use of quotes and discussion of the position of women at the time period.
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Maurie
9/23/2014 04:12:56 am
I believe the Wife of Bath is a feminist, but has a hard time representing it in her actions. Her prologue and tale seem to contradict each other with their own views of feminism. “Experience, thought it would be no authority in this world, would be quite sufficient for me, to speak of the woe that is in marriage; for, gentle people, since I was twelve years old-thank God, Who lives forever- I have had five husbands at the church-door,” (Wife of Bath prologue: paragraph 1) right from the start she tells about her five husbands and how she uses them to her advantage. She had five husbands and doesn’t think twice about looking for another one. She shows feminist qualities in how she protects her money. Women of this time would give their money to their husbands when they marry, but the Wife of Bath seems to have a habit of accumulating money from husbands and spending it on herself. The fact that she had 5 husbands doesn’t cross her off the list from being a feminist, but the fact that she ignores societies ideals and takes the money for herself, and to insure her husbands will not control her.
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Ms. M
9/23/2014 04:30:20 am
Excellent discussion of the conflicts between the tale and the life of the Wife of Bath. Nice final ideas and excellent use of support.
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Darel M.
9/23/2014 09:21:19 pm
Yes, I think the Wife of Bath is a feminist. She felt like as a female, she had the power to do whatever she felt, when she felt like doing it. And she feels like that woman should not be punished for these actions. A clear example would be from lines 788-816 in the prologue. In these lines, she talks about how her 5th husband beat her for ripping pages out of his book and for striking him in the cheek first. "But at last with great pain grief, we fell into agreement between ourselves. He put the full bridle into my hand, to have the governance of house and estate, and over his tongue and hands as well." She did all this just so she could be in charge of the house and to have all the money once she threw him in the fireplace.
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Ms. M
9/24/2014 05:35:20 am
Strong use of quote to support ideas.
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Spencer B.
9/23/2014 09:22:07 pm
The Wife of Baths tale, in my opinion, does show a feminist attitude. This story gives an outline of a woman's life in the 14th century. She begins talking in the prologue about her previous marriages. She explains how she had some good husbands and some bad husbands but in the end she always ends up leaving them and talking their money. In the tale she talks about a Knight who rapes a woman, the queen in response says this; "I grante thee lyf, if thou kanst tellen me what thyng is it that wommen moost desiren. Be war and keep thy nekke-boon from iren (910 – 911)!" She tells the knight that she must tell her what a woman most desires or he will lose his head. This quote explains that woman should be treated with value instead of used a property for the sole purpose of child bearing, which she goes into earlier in the story. The story starts of with her explaining her previous marriages, showing a bad example of how a woman should behave and the attitude they should take in a marriage. In essence she is fighting for the feminist movement but not supporting it with her behavior.
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Ms. M
9/24/2014 05:36:10 am
Build in more quotes to develop more points in your response.
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Tatiana
9/23/2014 09:56:50 pm
In the Wife of Bath i think she is a feminists because of how she was acting towards the men she was married to. She basically used them for money and was in a way like a gold digger. She would marry them for the money then eventually they would die and she would get another husband and she went through husbands like it was nothing and continued to get husband after husband. It seems as she could never find the right one and she was really only with them for their money not for the love.She was also very manipulative in ways because she would tell her husbands that she was cheating on them even though she really wasn't so that they would feel bad or that they would cheat back on her. She made them believe things that were not true to piss them off or make them angry. In the end she just used men. It is wrong to use anyone just for their money. Nobody should be used or manipulated to get what they want. That isn't the right way to get by in life. She also believed that god said that there is not a certain number of times that people can marry. " But he made no mention of number, Of marrying two, or of marrying eight;" She felt that she can marry as many times as she wanted to because there wasnt a specific number of times in the bible that said she can marry or anyone can marry. So she continued to keep getting married and getting that money.
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Ms. M
9/24/2014 05:36:57 am
Build in more specific quotes in the beginning to develop your assessments.
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Gizem B
9/24/2014 01:33:20 am
Yes, I think the Wife of Bath from the Canterbury Tales is a feminist. All of her story is about men and their mistakes and their imperfections and how she is capable of manipulating and using them. I think she sees men as tools to use to become rich. Without any problems she is capable of admitting that she married them for money. Even though that is very selfish and wrong, she doesn’t let any man disrespect her or humiliate her. She defends herself and women’s right. She is very powerful and knows how to use it. She also uses men for her own satisfaction.” How many could she have in marriage? At this point I have never in my life heard a designation of the number.”(34). She says that God did not say how many times women are allowed to marry. “Men may divine and interpret up and down, but well I know, surely, God expressly instructed us to increase and multiply.”(34). She also thinks that it’s okay to have sexual relationships with many men since God has “instructed” to mankind to have sex and to have children.
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Ms. M
9/24/2014 05:37:45 am
Good selection of quotes. Work on connecting quotes into a larger sentence which sets up ideas.
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