Canterbury Tales Essay - Quest for Power in The Wife of Bath:
Length: 796 words (2.9 pages)
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The Quest for Power in The Wife of Bath
The Wife of Bath is a very envious women, who desires only a few simple things in life. She likes to make mirror images of herself, through her stories, which in some way reflects the person who she really is. This is all proven through the many ways she portrays her characters.
The Wife of Bath desires the obvious in life, but what she most desires above all is being more powerful than her man, her spouse, and her lover. In a relationship, she wishes to be the dominant of the two. The one who has the last say. The one who is in control and decides all of the matters in the relationship. This is shown in her tale when the knight fulfills his task to her."'...a women wants the self-same sovereignty over her husband and her lover. And master him: he must not be above her. This is your greatest wish...' In the court not one that shook her head or contradicted what the knight had said..." (lines 164-170) The knight had spoken and fulfilled his quest, he found what women what the best. No women in the assembly disagreed with the knight's reply and certainly not the old hag. So it must be true power is what women what the most.
There is another example of the desire of power for the women it the relationship. The old hag, after marrying the knight, gives him a choice. For her to either stay ugly and be faithful or to become beautiful and wonder. " 'My lady, my love, my dearest wife, I leave the matter to your wise decision. You make the choice yourself, for the provision. I don't care which; whatever pleases you suffices me.'" "'Have I won the mastery?' she said 'Since I am to choose and rule as I think fit?'" "'Certainly, wife, that's it.'" (lines 310-318) Consequently, the hag became beautiful, but yet still faithful. This example shows how happy the women became when she was given the power. So happy that she rewarded her husband by becoming beautiful. " 'And may Christ Jesus send us husbands (that are) meek and young and fresh in bed. And grace to overbid them when we wed.and-Jesu hear my prayer!- cut short the lives of the those who won't be governed by their wives.'" (lines 338-343) This desire also leads her to become envious of her characters in her tale.
By comparing the Wife of Bath's prologue to her tale it becomes very visible that she is jealous of the old hag in her story. For the hag was given the power and dominance over her husband. In the Wife's true life it was not like that. Since the Wife of Bath loved Johnny (her fifth husband) so much she gave him all of her possessions, intern giving him the power. "'I gave my whole heart up for him to hold...I handed him all the money (she had never done this before) lands, and all that ever had been given me before; This I repented more and more. None of my pleasures would he let me seek...he smote me once upon the cheek....'" Through this statement made by the wife it shows that her fifth husband had the upper hand. This is not what she desired. She becomes jealous of the hag in the tale because the hag has what the wife does not. The hag has the power in the relationship. She is given the choice of what to do and when to do it. The wife has this choice taken from her. She wishes she could be like the hag. This is also where her characterization comes in. The way The Wife of Bath's Tale is written shows some similarities between the wife's prologue and her story. The major one is the appearance of the two. Both the wife and the hag are not very attractive and both are old. The wife is described in lines 395-398. "'...I was forty then, to tell the truth. But still I always had a coltish tooth. Yes I'm gap tooth, it suits me well...'" The hag when describing herself says she is old an ugly. The wife, in some way, because of the similarities in appearance, sees herself in her tale.
In conclusion, the wife wants what every woman wants in a relationship; power. Because of this desire for power she becomes jealous of the hag, whom she identifies with. She wishes that even though she is ugly, as the hag is, she can have the power that the hag has. That she may be given from her partner the power to make the decisions and the choices and not have that taken away from her.
Search for: [different parts] [girl lost] [two languages] [important role]
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