Economic Freedom and Women Empowerment: An Analysis of The Tale of the Wife of Bath by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14thcentury, is a series of tales of the lives of people during this period,which is reminiscent of Giovanni Boccaccio's depiction of medieval life inDecameron. In his work, Chaucer combines various elements, events, andrealities experienced by people of his time; and in depicting the lives ofthese people, Chaucer introduced in his literary work interestingcharacters that represents a particular sector of the society. Identifiedas "pilgrims," these characters symbolize the forces that determined 14thcentury Western society, which is predominantly patriarchal and extremelyconservative and intolerant of any social changes. In particular, Chaucer extends to his readers how society of his timeis characteristically oppressive towards women-perhaps the weakest and mostoppressed sector of early human societies. Through his literary work,particularly the texts, The Wife of Bath's Prologue and The Tale of theWife of Bath, Chaucer illustrates how, through clever manipulation andeconomic prosperity, repressed women in the 14th century were able to gainempowerment, as represented by the author's famous character in The
She blames theconservative view of the Church as detrimental to the development of women,as illustrated in the following passage from her tale: "The elf-queen, withher jolly company, Danced oftentimes on many a green mead. " In contention to this statement(expressed by the knight in the tale), Chaucer, through the old woman'scharacter, argues: "Women desire to have the sovereignty/ As well upontheir husband as their love/ And to have mastery their man above. " Thisstatement shows how women empowerment is not only measured throughfinancial liberties, but also through freedom's substantial nature-socialfreedom, wherein women are given chance to be respected and considered asproductive and useful members of their society. The Wife of Bath is a clever and manipulative woman, and possesses anadversarial relationship not only with her society, but among other womenas well. The Wife of Bath may have been characterizedunattractively in the tale, but she holds greater power over all women withher ability to sexually manipulate her husbands in order to dominate men. Bypossessing the qualities that negate the society's ideals and expectationsof women, the Wife deviates from the norm, which characterizes the 'socialradical' stance of Chaucer's tale. This paper discusses and analyzes howThe Tale of the Wife of Bath (and its Prologue) illustrates the gradual re-discovery of women of their power and influence in society, specifically,their ability to achieve economic and social freedom from a discriminatingsociety. Therefore, looking at The Tale of theWife of Bath, one can surmise that, in order to achieve social freedom,women must learn to combine both 'economics' and 'love,' wherein she mustdisplay a balance in assuming dual personalities in the society: one beingthe liberal woman, and the other as the obedient and dutiful wife. Through Geoffrey Chaucer's literary work, women are given opportunity toillustrate the changing dynamics in the rigid 14th century society, whereempowerment is achieved through gradual development of economic and socialfreedoms. But now no mancan see the elves, you know. Furthermore, Chaucer's Wife of Bath character is created to become theanti-thesis of the ideal woman/wife image constructed in the tale. The Wife of Bath, apart from being an epitome of economic and socialfreedom among women, is also an advocate, who not only represents womenempowerment, but acts for its enactment in her society.
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