In this assignment, we discuss The Wife of Bath Character, sketch analysis, summary, social class physical, description, and characteristics in the Canterbury Tales that have been described very minutely by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Before discussing The Wife of Bath’s Character sketch, summary and critical analysis of the character in Canterbury tales, we should know about who the Wife of Bath is and her background. In Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, we find out only two female characters, one is linked to the religious world and the other one is attached to the secular world. The wife of Bath character in Canterbury Tales is one of the best characters of Chaucer who is representative of her social class. The little wife of Bath has been taken from is not her husband’s name rather it is the name of the place in England, so, it seems that the writer in an ironic way says that she is the wife of the whole of Bath. So, we dare to say that she is a call girl who entertains others, she is a whore and a tooth gap is an indication of whore this thing makes the wife of Bath differ and indicates her social class in Canterbury Tales, the whores and prostitutions had a symbol in teeth gap and this was a custom of Chaucer’s time, this is not so surprising, in all ages and eras prostitutions, whores and call girls had their special identity that is called ( Jora hairstyle) special identity, in Islamic history these girls and ladies had a special hairstyle they made the JORA that was a hairstyle which was on the top of the head like a tree and nowadays they call girls, especially in Thailand have an especial identity they use tight jeans like that the wife of Bath reveals her identity in the shape of the gap in teeth. Teeth in gap also symbolized in Chaucer’s life amorous, envious, unfaithful, irreverent, luxurious and dominating behaviour. In Chaucer’s time women had no basic rights, they had to keep in their households, they had a lack of freedom, they were tread as sex tools, and they bestowed children but were neglected by their husbands, we can say that there was a male-dominant society. And the character of a wife is a revolt against the norms that had nourished in that era. However, the church also considered her as a tool of temptation, the Bible story was suggested in churches and was to be admitted that this sec actually, the cause of the fall of man.
“When Adam delved and Eve span
Who was then the gentlemen”?
Moreover, the Lady of the Knight was to be considered a goddess but in common houses she was treated as an inferior animal by her husband or wife of Bath is not like that she is very much courageous in herself. She has an influence on her husband, she is not a weak figure before male authority. She loves freedom and can’t live in the cage of marriage and church life, it seems that she does not live under any male that is why she has five husbands in the church record and is uncountable in her whole life.
The Wife of Bath Character, sketch analysis, summary, physical description, characteristics in Canterbury Tales
The Wife of Bath Character sketch, summary, and critical analysis in Canterbury Tales is very vivid and clear. It was a custom of medieval that every writer wrote about women and satirized them and the woman was to be considered the agent of the devil, Chaucer also wrote about various types of women in his work but his characters were as real as they looked. Chaucer does not satirize women only but also he paints virtuous characters in his work like the characters of Virginia and Cecilia both are the embodiment of all virtues.
The Wife of Bath Canterbury Tales physical description and characteristics
Chaucer takes so many pieces of work by the character sketch of the Wife of Bath in Canterbury Tales, those days England earned prosperity due to the woollen cloth industry and exporting was going on the top, the traders were becoming prosperous and this all could be seen by the character of the wife of Bath when Chaucer elaborates that she wears costly clothes which made in various industries. The wife of Bath wears a scarf on Sunday prayer that is not less than ten pounds in its weight, she uses red hoses that are fastened very tightly.
The Wife of Bath Canterbury Tales’ physical description is delineated she is too beautiful except for one default in her she is deaf on the other hand, she has a red complexion face, broad face, and heavy hips which makes her a hot and sexual lady. Her manners of taking a scarf here make a keen satire on The prioress because she unveils her forehead while the wife of Bath never ever shows her forehead on Sunday prayer.
In Chaucer’s age wealthy ladies never ever remained unmarried because the men got married to that woman for the sake of money that is why she found very easily the husband or husbands.
As far as The Wife of Bath Character sketch, summary and critical analysis and characteristics of the character in Canterbury Tales is concerned, she wants to be freedom and can not live under the control of males authority in her house she has total control in her hands and never ever does blackmail by her husband, however, she is bored in her marriage life and she is a liberal character that is why she had visited so many places of the world and knows a lot of routes of the voyage.
The Prioress Character Contrast With The Wife of Bath:-
The wife of Bath Canterbury Tales’ social class is revealed by the character of ‘The Prioress’. The prioress character in Canterbury Tales is treated in an ironic way, Chaucer unveils the corrupt mask of the religion, and her character is no more than a satire on religion. In Chaucer’s time, the church was a powerful institution as well as a medium of speech. And the same Prioress is linked with the church system. The Prioress character is actually a symbol of the downfall of religious life, in Canterbury Tales she is not what should be her, she is totally opposite to the life of the church, she loves secular life instead of church life. The manner in which Chaucer has described it is very worth praising. This character shows the “Decline of the Church” as well as the religion, there is only texture and gimmick in religion, the act has vanished from the lives of the people, and there is nothing called to be outstanding in religion. The character of the Prioress comes under harsh ironical way when we are told that the way of her charity is on animals more than human beings, she feeds animals that consist of very different kinds of food, which the ordinary human being of that era did not have.
“She had some little dogs, too, that she fed
On roasted flesh, or milk and fine white bread.
But sore she’d weep if one of them were dead,
Or if men smote it with a rod to smart:”
But the contrary of it, another character the “Wife of Bath” suggests that she is also in contrast to this character the thing comes to close us that so much charity is done by the” Wife of Bath”, if anyone offered charity more than her then she would get annoyed with him, but such compassion is lack of inside of that character that name is The Prioress. But she spends her money on animals instead of human being, and it has become the motto of her charity. In the Wife of Bath and The Prioress character, we find out two various elements. One is a religious woman and the other is whore but whore is doing prioress duty having been a red letter lady, on the other hand, the religious lady is busy with extravagant.
In short, In this assignment we discuss The Wife of Bath’s Character, sketch analysis, summary, social class physical, description, and characteristics in Canterbury Tales that has been described very minutely by Geoffrey Chaucer, the Wife of Bath Character in Canterbury Tales is very vivid and clear. It was a custom of medieval writers to write about women and satirized on them and the woman was to be considered the agent of the devil, Chaucer also wrote about various types of women in his work but his character was as real as they looked. Chaucer does not satirize women only but also paints virtuous characters in his work like the characters of Virginia and Cecilia who are the embodiment of all virtues.
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