The Pardoner's Tale and Its Irony

In medieval times,“pardoners” would sell these indulgences, kind of like certificates, in order to forgive someone’s sins and even sometimes salvation from eternal damnation. Before the Pardoner begins his tale, he admits that he is a fraud. He proudly exclaims that he is only in the pardoning business for the money and that he is guilty greed. He even says that his relics are really "ful of cloutes and of bones," (pg 234, line 348). Kind of reminds me of Matilda's father, a greedy and sly used-car salesman.

The Pardoner tells us a tale of three young men who spend all of their time drinking, swearing, and gambling, and just wasting their lives away. It is here that the Pardoner interrupts his tale to tell the group why all of these things are terrible sins forbidden by God in the Bible, but he truly believes "gret swering is a thing abhominable," (pg 240, line 631). The three young men find out that an old friend has been killed by Death, and in their drunkenness decide that they shall find Death and kill him as revenge.

Quick sidebar question: how exactly does one kill Death?!

Anyway, back to the tale.

While wandering the road looking for Death, they meet an old man who says that he had left Death under an oak tree and points them towards a grove. Under the tree they find several sacks of gold and decide to wait until nightfall to carry them away so as not to arouse suspicion. While one of the young men goes to get bread and wine, the other two plot to kill him upon his return so that they only have to split the gold two ways. Meanwhile, the man getting food and drink poisons two of the three wine bottles so that he can keep the gold all to himself. Upon his return he is stabbed by his two friends and then they drink the poisoned wine in celebration and die as well. Inconceivable!!

This tale demonstrates that greed will only lead to your own demise and that it brings out the worst in people. It is so ironic that the Pardoner is telling this tale when he is practically the embodiment of greed and intoxication. So, do you think is it possible for him to tell a tale of morals and be taken seriously? 

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pardoner

Therapy Couch

             After reading the Wife of Bath, I concluded that this woman’s personality suggests that she had learned it all in no time at all. She was born and gifted with the female intuition. She was not taught this by Mel Gibson in What Women Want. Rather, the Wife of Bath was gifted with this personality whereby she understands as a wife and a mother however, she cannot have children. Yet, you can see what I’m saying… It is as if this barrenness has given her the excuse to have a lot of sex. What I would like to know is the gory details about the extramarital affairs that she keeps quiet. She probably does not have any but would if she could. This could have caused a few problems in her five marriages if any of her husbands were very jealous creatures. From the reading, it is clear that this woman finds herself in bad relationships. She has lost hearing in one ear from fighting with her husband or one of her men who obviously hit her out of rage because she had ripped up his papers. In retaliation, she pretends that she is dying and hits him in the face or throat. Now I believe that her tale is her comment on the male dominated society in which she lives. However, the crown did not charge her for killing a husband. In my opinion she helped in his death or passing into the next world. In this case, she was either dealt a good hand, or she was clever to avoid getting charged. I personally believe everyone who meets her likes her because of what she knows, and how she holds herself.

           

The Wife of Bath has everything, even a job. At first glance, I thought this woman was a professional housewife. I still believe she is one. She has time for it all. I just thought her whole world would have revolved around marriage and having the social standing with other married women. She has no thoughts of children, instead it has been replaced by sex. She does however have thoughts of creation and finds it in as many ways as possible. She does it all. She’s smart too. She has even made the most of not being able to have kids. She sews, and she writes. She even touches the hearts of everyone possible. She teaches female liberation. I don’t know what I can say about that. It does not seem like a hobby. Perhaps, she was a little confrontational with her husbands, and even drove them to a few early graves, killing maybe more than one. That may be an exaggeration or in her deep dark secrets, but she might be a little upset with men. She might blame them for her inability to have children.

            Her story on the other hand is subtle. It is well balanced between good and evil. A knight rapes a woman. She presses charges. The king wants him dead. He is due to be executed. The queen takes charge. She asks him a question. He has to answer the question through a bit of community service. He finds an old woman who knows the right answer. She answers the question. He has to marry this ugly woman. He is upset. She turns into a beautiful woman. They live happily ever after. There is no bitterness for the knight and the rape was not mentioned again. According to the Wife of Bath's account, the knight wasn’t some evil man, he was just drawn into temptation.

            Anyone can just get a doctor’s note and find their way to the doctor. They ask for prescription after prescription. They sit and tell the doctor about their feelings and what has been going on in their lives. Is it, tell me about your feelings? What does this paint blot look like to you? You sit in that big comfy chair, on that big comfy couch and just talk. No one knows what you are talking about. You don’t know what you are talking about. She’s just sitting there and knows all the right answers. She is older and wiser. She knows what she is doing, and is never afraid to speak her mind. It sounds like we can all agree that we like this woman. I have heard previously that many scholars admire and analyze her character because of her rich character.  More is told about this woman in a few paragraphs in the prologue than the other characters which gives easy analysis of her story about the knight in shining armor.   

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pursuedbytruth/2014/12/some-points-on-the-nuns-versus-the-vatican-report.html

https://rosamondpress.com/2014/01/25/the-beautiful-and-unmerciful-daughter-of-the-king/

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33079041

Bathing in Marriage

The Wife of Bath is a character that plays to and simultaneously questions our 21st century feminist sensibilities. While the Wife does undermine some patriarchal traditions and values with one hand, she is constantly helping to reaffirm them with her other. As a result, it is difficult to discern whether she is supposed to be a heroic figure of liberation or merely a hyperbolic caricature of over sexualized women.

In her prelude, the Wife of Bath tells the story of a knight who came across a beautiful young maid, and he was so stricken that he just had to rape her. This detail of the story indicates that our dear Wife believes men are primarily driven by their sexual urges, and cannot control them.

King Arthur, who rules Britain at the time of the story, sentences the knight to death. However, the queen and her ladies decide to save the knight, if he can return to the court with the answer to a difficult question: what do women want most in the world? Because the queen takes authority over the king, the Wife is demonstrating the power of women can have over their husbands.

This theme recurs when the knight arrives again with a hideous old hag, who promised the knight that, in return for his devotion, she will give him the answer. He agrees, and tells the court that what women want most in the world is to control their husbands. The queen and her ladies accept the answer, sparing the knight's life, However, when the old, ugly women strong-arms the knight to marry her, he is distraught. In their wedding bed, the women proposes that she could be beautiful and unfaithful, or loyal and hideous. In the end, he lets her decide, which is all that she wanted, and thus becomes gorgeous and true, and they live happily ever after.

While the Wife demonstrates the power of women, this power is still only qualified by marriage, which is a patriarchal construct. Furthermore, I just want to point out that the knight who lived happily ever after is still a rapist, which I wish was a thing that only happened in King Arthur's day.  

The Wife of...Everyone, Apparently.

To be completely honest, this is kind of what I expected from the Wife of Bath. Reviewing my understanding of her based on how we described her in class, it can be summed up in: husbands, gold-digger, ostentatious, and a world traveler (by herself?). So 3/4 things I just mentioned aren't really "good" qualities to most people. Again, that being said, I didn't think highly of her and therefore wasn't surprised by what I read, but coming out of the reading I did have a new-found respect for her girl power.

The real first thing we hear from this woman is "I'm the authority on marriages, I've had enough of em." That's not a direct quote. Then, tailing off that, we hear that she's had 5 husbands! But don't accuse her of bigamy, because they're sequential, not at the same time. Oh, and she's cool with a sixth "whan that evere he shall!" (45, 103). 

Also, don't ask about her virginity because she's tired of hearing it. To paraphrase, so many people think virginity is more important than marriage, but she calls it "frailty" if people want to be abstinent their whole lives, and you won't make her jealous. In the same section of the book, we get a lot of innuendos talking about how men and women have different parts and "how can a man make his payment if he's never used his instrument"(p. 104-105). Basically, she likes marriage and virginity ain't all that. 

this is the wife of bath @ the haters

We also hear from her that she won't follow a rubric, she follows her own path which is cool to hear from a woman back then, regardless of why she's saying it. 

Alisoun (I think I read that's her name) gives us a quick rundown of her husbands, and from what I gather they're all old and wealthy and not worth her time. But the fifth husband is actually rad. He was so fresh and gay in bed (507, 113) (her words not mine). Someone who had my book before me annotated next to lines 503-514 when she's talking about husband #5, "it hurts so good" which I thought was hilarious and actually a great way to sum up that passage. 

I really appreciated her straightforwardness, and how she was a powerful woman. She had a lot of husbands, she enjoyed the perks of being married (even if it's to a man 20 years her junior) and she wasn't shy about doing things her own way. I can dig that. 

Another blog about Bath....

So it seems like we are all captivated by the the Wife of Bath. The description of her in the general prologue had me thinking that she was just a humble, church going woman who dressed well. But at line 460 when the narrator describes her as having had five husbands and “other companye in youthe” (461), I started having flashbacks of the squire and how he “so hote he lovede that by nightertale / he sleep namore than dooth a nightingale” (97-98).  Yet the Wife of Bath has gone on several pilgrimages to Jerusalem and other “a straunge streem” (14) that her lifestyle seems to contradict her religious values.

Jump to her prologue, the contradiction is on full display. She lies and deceits and uses her sexual prowess to manipulate men, namely her five husbands, into getting what she wants. And yet, she uses biblical references to defend her choices: “I woot wel Abraham was an holy man, / and Jacob…ech of hem hadde wyves mo than two” (55-57). I found the Wife of Bath to be incredibly complex and deliciously enticing and exciting! She is bold and shameless, yet we do get a glimpse of a softer, more sensitive side when she describes how she loved her fifth husband in spite of the “daungerous” nature of his love (514).

I picture Wife of Bath as an Elizabeth Taylor-esque seductress who shamelessly uses her sexuality as a means of power.

The Wife of Bath challenges all these longstanding, patriarchal /religious views of marriage and the “proper” role of a woman. Yet, I question Chaucer’s intent here. Is he praising her or satirizing her? The friar’s laugh at the end of her prologue seems to point to the ridiculous nature of her tale, and how this behavior was almost comical because of its outrageousness, which is the exact opposite of what a woman “should” be.

The Wife of Bath Will Not Take Your Nonsense

This being my first experience with Middle English, I have to admit that reading The Canterbury Tales has been a bit daunting. Much like the training wheels on my first bike, the footnotes and helpful hints in the margins have been the only things keeping me from falling flat on my face and crying to my mom.

                                                https://playingintheworldgame.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/power.jpg

How I feel reading Middle English 

 Aside from my struggles with the language, I’m really looking forward to reading more of these characters’ tales! This concept of a storytelling contest brings me back to the days of trying to one-up each other’s campfire stories at Girl Scout camp. Since many of these characters seem a bit grittier (@Somonour) than most of the girls in my Brownie troop, I’m sure these tales will entertain to say the least. 

 http://www.optionated.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/936full-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-cover.jpg

Anyone else guilty of peddling these stories as their own?

After reading the Prologue of the Wife of Bath’s Tale, I’m definitely ready to hear more of what she has to say! I’m a big fan of her saucy attitude, and I love how she’s always got some biblical knowledge to back up her choices.

http://tattooimages.biz/images/gallery/Great_only_God_can_judge_me_quote_tattoo_on_arm.jpg.pagespeed.ce.jq5-vimJD3.jpg

Tell 'em, W.O.B.

 

Sure she’s been bouncing around from husband to husband since she was a preteen, but at least she owns it! I would love to see another character try to confront her about her choices, because I’m certain she would serve up a vicious verbal take-down, and honestly I’m here for it. 

Wife of Bath 2016: Make Canterbury Saucy Again

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. N.p.: W.W. Norton &, n.d. Print. 

First I would just like to say that the Wife of Bath was not what I expected her to be before reading this. For some reason I genuinely felt like she was going to be this wholesome church going woman. While she does go to church it isnt really for the right reasons. She goes to show "what a good person she is" even though she really isnt all that great. She makes cloth to give to the church, but if somebody one ups her she gets mad. 

I also expected her to be very modest when it came to the things she wore. While the clothes themselves may have been modest in the way that they kept her covered they were very flamboyant and colorful. She wore a lot in an attempt to show her wealth but she ended up looking pretty foolish. She wore a hat as big as a shield and bright red tights. 

I was also surprised to see that she has had five husbands, like honestly who even has time for that?