wifeofbath

Selective Reading of English LiteratureReading QuestionsWeek 2-3 Geoffrey Chaucer “The General Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales Reading: pp.29-48 (There will be five quizzes to check your reading.)Close reading: pp.33-40 (Till the line—―That’s why he sang so merrily and loud.‖) General questions:1.How many elements are included in the general prologue of the Canterbury tales?2.What is the role of the Host? How are the tales chained together by Chaucer? Doyou think it is reasonable? What problem is there in the design?3.Who are the characters that are depicted in detail in the excerpt? Do you thinkChaucer’s characters are well chosen or chosen at random?Questions about the opening lines:4.In the first ten lines four major images are used to describe April. What are they?How are they unified?Questions about the Prioress:5.By his humorous description of the prioress’ smiling, oath, her Romantic nameand her way of singing, what does Chaucer suggest?6.Do you like the prioress’ good manners? Why or why not?7.In what ways is the prioress’ behavior of keeping dogs improper?8.Is there any problem in the way the prioress wears her veil?9.What does ―a golden brooch‖ suggest? Why do you think the prioress wears abrooch inscribed with ―Amor vincit omnia‖?Questions about the wife of Bath:10.Why does Chaucer say that the Wife of Bath is ―a worthy woman‖?11.Chaucer calls our attention to the finely woven kerchiefs of the wife of Bath, herhat as broad as a shied, together with her fine socks and shoes. What’s the point?12.How is her appearance related to her character?13. Does her wide traveling suggest anything?14. What does Chaucer’s attitude seem to be towards the fact that she had five husbands?15.What is probably her real intention of all the religious journeys? What is yourevidence?16.How do you like the Wife of Bath?Questions about the pardoner and summoner:ment on Chaucer’s satire in the portray ing of the pardoner and the summoner.How and why?Class discussion topics:18. What is Chaucer’s attitude towards women?19. What was the role of church in Chaucer’s time? How did people generally see those working for church?20. Please comment on the style of the prologue of the Canterbury Tales.Week 3-4 William Shakespeare “Sonnet 18” and “Sonnet 29”, The Merchant of VeniceReading: pp.66-67, 93-97, ―Sonnet 18‖ and ―Sonnet 29‖ pp.98-101,The Merchant of Venice pp.108-132Questions:1.How do you understand renaissance?2.What is a sonnet?3.What is the primary conceit of Sonnet 18?4.In line 6 of Sonnet 18, are the two ―fairs‖ ide ntical or different? How do youunderstand this line?5.How do you understand the last two lines in Sonnet 18? Was Shakespeareboasting?6.In the middle ages, men were regarded as trivial and sinful. How does Sonnet 18argue against the belief?7.What was the po et’s situation described in Sonnet 29? What changes everything?8.How do you understand Shylock’s statement ―it is my humour‖ (p.111)? Iscruelty his humour?ment on Bassanio’s ―wife sacrificing‖ statement. (pp.120-121)ment on Portia’s statement on ―mercy‖. (pp.116-117) Do you think theChristians in the play are men of mercy?11.Where is the climax of the play?ment on Antonio and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.What isShakespeare’s attitude? Yours?Week 5 Francis Bacon“Of Studies”,“Of Great Place”―Of Great Place‖1.What kind of person is a man in great place compared to?2.Why is it a strange desire to seek power?3.How does one rise to a high position?4.How about the regress from the position?5.Could a man in great place feel happy?6.Does a man in great place usually know himself? Why or why not?7.What’s the best condition in terms of doing evil? And what’s the second best?8.What’s the relationship between good thoughts and good deeds?9.How should one follow examples? Good examples, bad examples. Ancient and contemporary.10.How should one act in front of a person inferior in place?11.Explain in your own words the four vices of authority—delay, corruption, roughness and facility and how to avoid the four vices respectively.12.How should one behave when they rise to great place? How should one handle the problems such as factions, predecessors, and colleagues?13.In conversations, is it proper for one to be sensitive to or always remembering his place?―Of Studies‖14.Why is ―Of Studies‖ impressive?15.Read the essay carefully and point out the rhetoric devices employed. Considerhow the devices help to make his writing effective.16.How would you understand the statement ― To spend much time in studies issloth‖? What is the philosophical or logic proposition in it?Week 6 Metaphysical Poets & Cavalier PoetsRead John Donne ―Song‖, ―the Canonization‖, ―A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning‖, and Ben Johnson ―Song to Celia‖1. What is a metaphysical conceit?2. Why is John Donne regarded ―modern‖?3. How do you understand Donne’s concept of love in his poems?4. What is ―Carpe diem‖?Why is ―Song to Celia‖ a poem with a carpe diem theme? Week 7-8 John Milton Paradise LostGeneral questions:1. Life of John Milton2. What is ―epic‖? What are the characteristics of the genre?3. Re ad the story of Adam and Eve’s fall in the Bible. (See supplementary readingmaterial in class email box)4. Paradise Lost consists12 books:Books 1-4: Satan’s unsuccessful attempt to seduce EveBooks 5-8: Adam and Eve warned by Raphael about the danger from SatanBooks 9-12: Adam and Eve’s fallFrom Book 1 our text is excerpted. According to what you read, how does Satan react to the failed attempt?5.How do you describe the tone of Paradise Lost ?6.Examine one of his soliloquies and identify the character traits and poetictechniques that make him seem appealing or forgivable.Class Discussion Questions: (please think the following questions over after reading and before the discussion)7.How does Milton understand Christianity? Does he want to redefine Christianityor replace the Bible by Paradise Lost?8.How do you describe God in Paradise Lost? Was Milton attacking God? Howdoes Milton ―justify the ways of God to man‖9.Satan is the most well-developed character in Paradise Lost. Is he a sympatheticcharacter? Why is Satan made heroic?10.In terms of revolution that Milton was involved in, what is Paradise Lost symbolicmeaning?11.The first words of Paradise Lost state the poem’s main theme. Milton narrates thestory of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, explains how and w hy it happens, and places the story within the larger context of Satan’s rebellion and Jesus’ resurrection. In essence, Paradise Lost presents two moral paths that one can take after disobedience separately represented by Satan and Adam and Eve. Can you find out the two moral paths implied by Milton?Week 9 Thomas Gray “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”1.What is an elegy?2.How is ―Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard‖ different from previous elegiesin terms of whom an elegy mourns?3.What is ―the graveyard school‖?4.In the first three stanzas, the poet employs a number of images to set the tone forthe whole piece. Could you classify the images? And how are they worked to achieve that effect?5.In stanzas 4-7, many daily laboring scenes and living scenes are depicted. Whatconclusion do they lead us to?6.In stanzas 8-11, what conclusion does Gray aim to arrive at by mentioning thenoble, the powerful, the beautiful, and the wealthy in his contemplation about the death of the unknown?7.What is ―momento mori‖? Can you find the theme in the elegy? Where?8.In stanzas 12-23, what are the potentials of the country fellows for Gray? Whatmetaphors are used to state that their talents are hidden? And to what great persons are they compared?9.The poet appears on the scene in stanzas 24-29. And how does this part reaffirmthe argument that life is transitory and short? Which side does he stand on –the great or the humble?10.What information could you get about the poet from the epigraph? How does thepoet bridge between death and religion in the closing lines?Further Discussion:11.How do you understand death? Why do we live if we have to die? Is human life atragedy?Week 10-12 Romantic PoetryRead all the Romantic poems in the course book and read closely the following ones: *Wordsworth ―I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud‖*Coleridge ―The Rime of the Ancient Mariner‖*Byron Don Juan*Shelley ―Ode to the West Wind‖*Keats ―To Autumn‖Prepare for the following questions:1.What is Romanticism?2.The Lake Poets3.How does Wordsworth understand nature?4.What’s the relation between man and nature described in Wordsworth’s poem ―IWandered Lonely as a Cloud‖ ?5.What graphic word-pictures does Coleridge’s ―The Rime of the Ancient Mariner‖depict? What style?6.What is an ode? Qualities of ode.7.What are the three major images that help to intensify the power of the west windin the first three stanzas respectively?8.How does Shelley perceive the relation between Spring, Autumn and Winter?9.―Wild spirit, which are moving everywhere; Destroyer and Preserver; hear, oh,hear!‖ What would the west wind destroy and preserve?10.Which is often regarded as ―the most serene poem in the English language‖ ?11.Is there melancholy in Keats’ ―To Autumn‖? What is Keats’ autumn like?12.How musical element help to achieve the effect of Keats’ autumn?13.In this poem, autumn is personified. What personality is indicated? What doesdescriptive detail in each of the three stanzas contribute to the definition of that personality? How is this personality related to the mood of the poem—and the theme?14.What are the paradoxical qualities of autumn? What images reveal the contrastingqualities of the season?15.Why, as a matter of fact, do swallows gather in the skies? What meaning does thishave for the poem?16.The poem has been admired for its precise and suggestive diction. Locate wordsand phrases which seem to justify the admiration.Further discussion:Tet states that ―nature may provide a stimulus, but it is the poetic consciousness itself that must give voice to nature and articulate its meanings‖. Then the season of autumn stimulates different feelings and ideas in Shelley and Keats. Human understanding that everything in our lives is transitive and that nothing is forever. Compare Shelley’s autumn with Keats’ autumn.Week 13-14 18th Century Novel1.Describe 18th century British social and historical circumstances.2.Why did the novel rise in the 18th- century Britain?pare 18th century Britain with today’s China.4.What are the most striking features of the genre novel?5.What is a picaresque novel, an epistolary novel and a Gothic novel?6.Have you ever read any 18th century British novels from cover to cover? (Checkthe following list of major 18th century novels). Comment on at least one of the novel(s) you have read.Week 15-16 Victorian AgeReading Assignment:Bronte Sisters pp.195-198, Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre, William Thackeray V anity Fair, Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights pp.199-221, Thomas Hardy Tess pp.231-241Reading Questions:1.What is realism?2.What is bildungsroman? Is Jane Eyre a bildungsroman?3.Who are Jane, Helen, Rochester, and Bertha Mason? Briefly introduce thecharacters.4.What are generally believed to be typical Victorian values?5.Why is the novel entitled Vanity Fair?6.How could Becky and Crawley live well on nothing a year in Paris?7.What have you learned about Becky Sharp’s personality from the excerpt?8.Is Becky a feminist figure? Why or why not?9.How does Catherine’s love for Heathcliff compromise with Victorian values?Does love exist in vacuum?10.How does nature echo the protagonist’s emotions?11.In what sense is Wuthering Heights gothic?12.What do you think of Heathcliff’s love and revenge?13.Is Tess a pure woman? In what values?14.What is fatalism? And how does it set the tones of Tess and Jude?15.How do landscapes work in Hardy’s novels?Week 17 Modern and Contemporary PeriodJames Joyce Ulysses, Samuel Becket Waiting for Godot, William Golding Lord of the Flies1.What is the modern movement and what is modernism?2.How important is psychoanalysis to modernism?3.What is ―stream of consciousness‖?4.What is imagism?5.How is postmodernism different from modernism?6.Why is Ulysses modern? What new techniques are adopted and what themesexplored?7.What is the theme of Waiting for Godot?8.How do you understand Lord of the Flies as a multilayered allegory?。

the wife of bath prologue解析《坎特伯雷故事集》中的《巴斯夫人的故事》可以说是其中最富有争议性的一个故事。

而在这个故事之前，还有一个关于巴斯夫人自己的故事。

所以，这篇文章先来解析一下《巴斯夫人的前言》。

被誉为《坎特伯雷故事集》中最有个性的女性形象，坎特伯雷故事集中的"巴斯夫人"不仅性格十分鲜明，而且充满着感性和理性的思考。

"巴斯夫人"是一个典型的中世纪女性，充分体现了那个时代女性思想和社会地位的缺失。

但"巴斯夫人"不仅是对中世纪女性思想的反抗，她还代表着十四世纪英国下层人民对高等阶层思想和整个英国教会的反感。

巴斯夫人主张同源同宗，希望婚姻是平等的交流，所以她倡导的性爱是一种金钱交易，她自认为是一位有资历的性爱宝典。

巴斯夫人的言辞非常地尖锐，给整个教会上下造成了很大的震动，使她成为教会的公敌。

作为一个自信且强有力的女性，她受到了当时社会和教会的压迫。

但是她不妥协自己的信念，继续用自己的话语跟世界交流。

首先，巴斯夫人的前缀是直接回应其他故事人的故事。

她自己并没有一个完整的故事要讲，而是采用了一种旁白的方式，通过回忆自己的生活经历，来回应其他人对于婚姻的定义。

她强调，生活经验就是最好的教师。

并且，她还反驳了坎特伯雷故事中一位骑士的言辞。

骑士提出妇女需要尊重，但他却并不坚信，直到他亲身经历爱情后意识到女性的尊严。

而巴斯夫人认为这个论点是错误的，女性是应该被尊重的，无论是否经历了爱情。

其次，巴斯夫人出生于富裕的贵族家庭，婚姻生活十分之丰富多彩，先后结过五次婚。

她很自豪地说，她让婚姻成为了自己的事业。

她清楚她们之间的差异，即使爱情对于婚姻来说也是非常重要的，但恶劣的婚姻会让女性痛苦一生。

由此，巴斯夫人强调了女性应该拥有自主权，在寻求真正的爱情时拥有权利选择自己的伴侣。

最后，巴斯夫人还突出了她的汉语调夫，这是故事中最具有特色的一个点。

wife of bath 原文和赏析Wife of Bath (The Canterbury Tales)The Canterbury Tales OverviewThe story in which the Wife of Bath originates from the the Canterbury Tales. This story was written by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. Chaucer wrote many works in his life time, one of the most popular is the Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tales is attributed to the wide spread use of Middle English during its time of publication. Chaucer wrote this story as a satirical play on class stereotypes. In his work he addresses some of the hard hitting facts about how each class lived during his time. He was a popular writer then and now[1].The Wife of Bath OverviewThis is an illustration from the Thomas Becket page showing his murder.This is a picture of the Wife of Bath on her journey. This image was sourced from a website translating the Canterbury Tales to Italian.The Wife of Bath is one of the twenty-seven characters in the Canterbury Tales. The Wife of Bath as well as the other characters are on a journey to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket inCanterbury[2]. In this work she is to tell two stories on the way to the shrine and two on the way back[2] as a part of the contest that the Narrator is holding during a group of people going on their pilgrimage. The winner of this contest will receive a meal courtesy of the rest of the pilgrims when they return from the shrine.The Wife of Bath describes herself as a professional wife. Her actual occupation though is a seamstress. She has been married five times as well as had many different affairs. She is a very religious woman taking pride in her faith as well as the fact that she is only to be married within the church. The Wife of Bath tells about herself as someone who like to be married as well as takes pleasure in expensive items, arguing, and talking[2]. She is educated in the sense of common sense and well traveled making her very experienced in love and life. She has been on three pilgrimages in her life before the one that she takes in the Canterbury Tales.Story Summary Brief OverviewThis knight found a beautiful young maiden and was overcome by her beauty and forces himself upon her. Seeing this horrible crime is a sentenced to death by beheading. The queen asks the king to spare the man if he can, in one year, find out what a woman truly wants.According to Wife of Bath she came across this man and said that women want to be revered and in charge She tells the story of Midas as proof how he had "ass's ears" and his wife wanted to tell someone so badly about this secret. The knight takes this tale and tells the queen that women want control and she spares his life.In this tale the Wife of Bath tells the tale of how there was an ugly old hag who was turned into a pretty and desired woman if the men treat them well.CharacteristicsChaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales keeping in mind the common stereotypes for each class. The rich wear expensive clothing with coloration. Colors were a rare occurrence due to the fact that dye had to be handmade and or imported[2]. The poor were not as well dressed and most times had rundown clothing[3].DescriptionThe Wife of Bath is not her actual name. Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales names his characters after their occupation rather than giving them actual names such as the Plowman and the Knight. Bath is not heractual husband's name though in her case, Bath is the name of a river in a very rich part of England thus illustrating right off the bat that she comes from wealth. She is very worldly and presents herself as one that loves sex and speaking. She does have a gap in her very front teeth and cannot hear out of one ear. She is described as having a large bottom and is very pink in the face. Another illustration of her wealth is her clothing. It is red which means that it comes from imported dies that were handmade from crushed beetles. Wife of Bath has a very dominating personality and boasts of her control over her past husbands. She is also described as surpassing well known overseas clothing workers speaking to her skills at her job[4].ClassThis image depicts the approximate structure of class within the Victorian Era. This is sourced from an English education website.This story was written during the Middle Ages (14th century) by Chaucer. social classes were very clear and distinctive. Figuring out which character is associated to a social class within the feudalism system is the task. There are four groups that makes the entire Feudalism system. The wealthiest class with the most respect is royalty,which is followed by the noble. Both royalty and noble had a few things in common, one being clothes made from fine materials with bright colors. Next there would be the tradesmen and merchants, then the peasants.One of the supposed reasons that Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales is because he was illustrating the need for social change. For the first time there was literature written for the general people and not just the upper class. During this period too there was also another emerging class known as the middle class. This would change the social dynamic of early England. One of the main reasons for the popularity of the Canterbury Tales is due to the fact that it does illustrate the stereotype social constructs that existed and shine them in a more true-to-life light along with the fact that this work was able to bring Middle English language and structure to lower classes unlike any other.A Woman's RolePeople in the respective categories were expected to remain within their class and any slight change from one class to another was considered to be a serious offence. In all these categories, the role of the women remained unchanged. They were supposed to live a highly restrictive life with their life centered around their husband and subsequently theirchildren."[6] This means that the Wife of Bath was a very revolutionary character for women. She had her own opinions as well as thoughts. From the fact that she was able to punch her husband in the face without fear shows that she was a very powerful woman.In this way the Wife of Bath was very contradictory to the standards that were held during his time. Higher class women were to "... [spend] most of their time attending tea parties and balls and the remaining time they would spend in knitting and horseback riding. Women had several attendants to look after them. They were expected to be highly educated. Their main job was to effectively instruct the servants on what is to be done and to groom younger girls of the same class (nobility) to become women."[6] Few women were self employed at this time as well.The Wife of Bath did indeed take up to being a wife but she did not do so in the normal fashion. She was promiscuous, unafraid to bring to light what she had done in the past. She was also very bold in everything she did, her character biography even said that she enjoyed arguing as one of her past times, something uncharacteristic of women in that time. Wife of Bath also worked for herself unlike many upper class women who did not work and took pride in the fact.Chaucer is a master at both showing stereotypes for each gender as well as creating a total juxtapose of their characteristics.A Day in the LifeA day in the life of a "normal" upper class Victorian woman would entail tending to the house and often times simply mingling with others of the same class was all that was done. Since the Victorian Era was extremely class based[7] the classes did not intermingle. The main focus of the women in this time was their family.For Wife of Bath, her main focus in the story was her own pleasure taken in life, this is characteristic of the upper class since they did live a life of luxury. Wife of bath did have a family life mainly with her husband(s). Most of her time would have most likely been spent either engaging in intimate relations or traveling based upon her stories and character biography.SymbolismSymbolism is a very important aspect of every story. It adds extra depth and underlying meaning to objects and phrasing. Chaucer favors symbolism in his work of the Canterbury T ales. He uses his symbolismto show irony in his characters.Wife of Bath SymbolismWife of Bath in and of herself is a symbol for the upper class with her outward appearance but is very different in her acts. That is Chaucer's way of showing the inconstant outward portrayal and actions of people. Wife of Bath's personality was a symbolical challenge of what the average woman was making her a symbol for change as well as a symbol for the current flaws. She was a tool for Chaucer to illustrate female sovereignty.[8] Her first story shows this. Her second story she shows that she, even at her old age, is still desirable through means of symbolism if them men treat her well.Wife of Bath also portrays herself as a very religious zealot but her actions show the dysfunction with the church's belief that, if you repent, you will be forgiven. She continues her "unholy" actions without repercussions after repenting making no change to her unjust actions much like many of the members of the church at this time. This is Chaucer's way of showing the problems within the church and the corruption.Chaucer also uses the company on the pilgrimage as a way to show thatcompany is important.Middle EnglishMiddle English was used around the years 1150 to 1500. This was one of the many stepping stones that English transitioned through to end up as what we know as modern English today. During this time Middle English did not have a central structure due to fact that different methods of obtaining knowledge on such a language were varied on their teachings and applications.[9]Language implications of ChaucerChaucer has one very large, significant role in Middle English. He is known as the "Father of English Poetry" due to the fact that he wrote for the common people. His popularity helped revolutionize the standardization of Middle English. Rather than before when literature was only written for the wealthy, Chaucer wrote his works for everyone. That is why he is known as a revolutionary in the English culture.赏析：一个骑士因为做了一件坏事，亚瑟王要处死他。

Senior Honors English-A Survey of English Literature-2013-2014Beowulf (excerpt)Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer—General Prologue, “The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.”Macbeth by William ShakespeareOthello by William ShakespeareA Tale of Two Cities by Charles DickensVarious poems and short stories by English authors.*One independent work of literary merit written by an English author must be read independently by the student. The student will write a research paper on this independent piece. The topic for the paper will be one that the student creates with the approval of the instructor; therefore, the student should not only read the work, but read several on-line articles about the work. Two on line articles are required to be brought into class prior to the start of the research process.Some Readings and Topic Ideas for Senior Honors Independently Read Literary Work for the Research Paper follow:1.Chaucer’s “Knight’s Tale” and the elements o f a medieval romance.2.Chaucer’s “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” and the elements of a beast fable.3.Chaucer’s “Miller’s Tale” and the elements of a fabliau.4.Spenser’s Faerie Queene Book I and the use of allegory.5.Shakespeare’s“King Lear” as a double tragedy (Lear and Gloucester) about there being nojustice in the world.6.John Donne as a Metaphysical poet “The Flea,” “The Sun Rising.”7.Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” as a carpe diem poem of seduction.8.Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” as a mock epic.9.Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” as juvenilia satire and the model for the structure of anargumentative essay.10.Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe as a travel, adventure novel based on the rise of capitalism,written for the middle class (Bourgeois epic).11.Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and her argument that women arenot genetically inferior to men, but that they are made inferior by being denied education.12.William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience (“The Tyger” and “The Lamb”) as moralcontraries Does the achievement of goodness require experience? Also examine his moralsymbols in “The Sick Rose.”13.Two romantic revolutionaries: William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. How theirLyrical Ballads took poetry in a new direction: eliminated inflated diction, and returned poetryto a primal, natural state(“Daffodils” and” I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”: by Wordsworth and how they combine solitude with God in nature) or (Coleridge’s “The Rhyme of the An cientMariner” as a narrative on the condition of man in an incomprehensible natural universe and how he combines theology, philosophy, and travel in his poem).14.Analysis of Keats’ “La Belle Dame sans Merci.” Themes of death and beauty and love as self-destructive and how the poem reflects his tuberculosis.15.Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as gothic horror.16.Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and the theme of marriage and the decisions associated withmarriage—how to make the right choice and what happens when on e doesn’t make the right choice.17.Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist shows Dickens as a social critic and the political context of the1834 Poor Law Reform.18.Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights as a romantic narrative influenced by the wild, harshlandscape of the Yorkshire region and developing characters of deep psychological complexity.19.Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, a bildungsroman novel which uses its title character’sintelligence, morality, and spirit to navigate a world dominated by men and how it contains elements of feminist thinking.20.Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” a dramatic monologue that says that art is moreimportant than love narrated by a sociopath.21.Thomas Hardy’s novels (Tess of the d’Urbervilles, The Return of the Native, or Jude the Obscure)explore the demise of prosperity brought on by the removal of trade protections favoring the British farmer and the increasing urbanization of England.22.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles reflects Doyle’s training as a man ofscience featuring the technique of observation which is in line with the scientific spirit of the late 19th, and early 20th centuries. Even Darwin launched his theory based on the observation of birds in the Galapagos Islands. Doyle as the master technician of the detective novel genre. 23.HG. Wells pioneered the genre of science fiction. His fertile scientific imagination can be seen inThe Time Machine where he creates a grotesque Garden of Eden where man has evolved into two bipolar species: the ultra civilized and the brawny( class system),and The Island of Dr.Moreau which focuses on how evolution can be harnessed and controlled.24.Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as an attack on colonization. Man witnessing the mindlessextraction of natural resources while inhumanely exploiting the native workers in the Congo under the guise of “civilizing” a primitive culture.25.George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion as a comment on language and the class system inEngland.26.Henry James’s novel The Turn of the Screw is a horror story that is ambiguous because of thenarrator’s involvement in the action. James believed that what created a worthwhile novel was less what the novelist depicted than how he or she depicted it.27.George Orwells’ novel 1984 as a dystopian novel about the future oppression of newtechnologies.28.C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is an allegory of the life and death of Christ.。

The Wife of Bath's Tale From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia(Redirected from The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale)Dr. Michael DelahoydeWashington State UniversityTHE WIFE OF BATH'S TALE/~delahoyd/chaucer/WBT.html Chaucer loves this character. She gets an awe-inspiring portrait, is a realistic character despite her knack for confirming the worst stereotyping of women, and is mentioned in the Merchant's Tale, Clerk's Tale, and even in the completely separate "Envoy to Bukton."Prologue:"Experience, though noon auctoritee / Were in this world, is right ynogh for me / To speke of wo that is in mariage" (1-3) -- certainly a combative start! The Prologue is a dramatic monologue in which the character is shown in her own speech: yearning and uncertain. She attempts to preach, but isself-destructive to a degree. What's going on in her mind? Some of this is almost stream-of-consciousness!The Wife of Bath starts the "Marriage Group" as G.L. Kittredge called it (even though other marriages appear in the Canterbury Tales fragments), involving the Clerk, the Merchant, the Franklin. More immediate is a "Wife of Bath group" in which the Clerk is quiet and waits his time.The Wife attacks medieval dogma and uses aggression as her defense. The primacy of authority over experience is turned upside-down. Experience yields tolerance, allows exceptions, sees other views.On marriage the Bible offers no real strong scriptural statement; primarily the Church relied on interpretations -- more "glosings" than prohibitions. At first, then, the Wife addresses the matter of numbers of marriages. She has paid careful attention to one New Testament story in which Jesus tells a Samaritan woman that she has had five husbands and that the man she is now with is not her husband (15-19). The Wife misinterprets: she thinks the current man is the fifth husband and that Jesus is invalidating the marriage because it's more than four, which naturally seems arbitrary. She then cites the case of Solomon (35ff) who clearly had many wives. So in her first view of marriage here, it's the more the merrier; but is this what she wants?She speaks about virginity, noting that the Bible, even if it indicates that virginity is perfection (105), does not and cannot command such perfection of everyone. She speaks about genitals, noting that "experience" (124) tells us that they're not just for urination. And she speaks of the complex politics of sex in marriage, often using economic language: e.g., "dette" and "paiement" (130-131, 154f). The notion of the husband being in control is turned upside-down. The primacy of the spirit over the body is turned upside-down.Interruption:The Pardoner interrupts with jovial insistences that he was going to get married but now he's rethinking that decision. He seems to bow to the Wife's "authority" in this matter. Why does he interrupt? The Wife banters back with him, and he encourages her to continue teaching "us yonge men" (187). I'd say he's trying too hard to insist he's mainstream. We know from the General Prologue that there's something curious about this guy sexually, and I think we seriously doubt that he's engaged to be married. The insistence on the inclusive "us yonge men" serves as a strained attempt to place himself among the group. The whole interruption smacks of unhealthy overcompensation.The Wife then serves up a sermon on marriage essentially to the group of her first three well-to-do husbands when she was very young and attractive and therefore had control. Another facet of the anti-feminist tradition comes again from her own mouth. She takes her audience into her confidence and admits, even brags, that she used sex as a weapon of humiliation, her chiding alternating with her sweetness to manipulate her husbands and to keep them jealous and on edge. She has pride in her old self and we hear of her accomplishments with a touch of nostalgic sadness and some guilt. She even demonstrates how she drove them bonkers pointing out double standards and contradictions in their value systems in her long "Thou seyst" speech (234-450).She turns her discussion to her fourth husband who had a paramour when she was at the mid-point in her life. He didn't care about her so much so she should talk of her own woe now. She mentions wine several times at this point in her recollections (459ff).Her fifth husband (503ff) was a clerk of 20 when she was 40 so the situation in many respects is reversed. He's the one who's hard-to-get and good in bed. She has the wealth now. He's a worthy opponent. A key incident in their relationship involved his reading and chuckling over stories in a collectionof "the greatest hits of anti-feminism" -- the antithesis of what the Legend of Good Women was supposed to be. Concerning this kind of text, the Wifeperceptively asks, "Who peyntede the leon, tel me who?" (692) -- proverbially a lion's question when viewing a picture of a man killing a lion -- in other words, consider the source. Old clerks write "legends" so naturally women are villified. The Wife got fed up and tore some pages out of her fifth husband's book, he hit her, she played it up melodramatically, he was very sorry, and, once she thereby gained "governance" in the relationship (814), they lived happily ever after. (Except he's dead now.) Interruption:The Friar's interrupts next, good-naturedly calling her rambling so far "a long preamble of a tale" (831). This immediately enrages the Summoner out of all proportion, who tells the Friar to shut up and sit down. The Friar promises to tell a couple tales about summoners, and the Summoner vows to tell tales about friars, before the Host shuts them both up and invites the Wife to tell her tale.Tale:The Wife of Bath should tell a fabliau, but she tells a romance, a Breton lai. It's a Celtic courtly genre with magic. (The Franklin's Tale is the other.) You can tell a Breton lai because 1) the narrator says "This is a Breton lai" or provides such self-identification, 2) the narrator says he heard it was told in Brittany (in the northwest province in France), or 3) the setting is mentioned as being in Brittany.The setting is "the old days" -- a nostalgic time of magic when elves and fairies flitted about, whereas now we have only friars poking around (879f). Irrational violence against women is a premise of the story when one of King Artthur's knights rapes a young woman. The Queen and the court ladies plead for jurisdiction over his fate and decide that he's got 366 days to find out the answer to the age-old question that stumped Freud: what do women want? (So the rapist's punishment is to be turned loose to interview women?)He turns up countless contradictory answers and the Wife cannot refrain from adding her own answer (932ff). She provides a digression involving another stereotype of women. Gender roles are inverted somewhat in that the barber in the Midas story becomes a wife. But the bottom line is that women cannot keep secrets.The knight meets an old ugly woman who seems able to give him the right answer if he'll marry her. Does the Wife of Bath inhabit the character of this old woman? The result is the odd situation of this former rapist knight standing before the court ladies and confidently telling them what it is they want. Sovereignty is the ostensible answer here (1038).After the marriage, the "Curtain Harangue" (1165-1218) or curtain-lecture involves the hag speaking of gentilesse (of deed, not blood), poverty (= honesty), and age (the knight will not find himself cuckolded). One would not expect all this from a young wife, but with experience comes wisdom! Psychological depth is added to this tale in the form of the fantasywish-fulfillment. But the old woman's magic is blind. She argues positions and deportment-book virtues that Alisoun has rejected, especially the politics of possession. To see identification is to sentimentalize?The hag gives the knight a difficult decision to make, and when he leaves the decision to her, he is rewarded with the best of both worlds. As charming as the story's ending may be, the Wife nevertheless ends with a curse on those men who will not be ruled by their wives (1261ff).The pilgrims respond unfavorably, or nervously. The Pardoner and the Friar already spoke forth and will engage in their "quyting" now; but later the Merchant and Clerk will respond to the Wife.WorksCarruthers, Mary. "The Wife of Bath and the Painting of Lions." PMLA 94 (1979): 209-222.Crane, Susan. "Alison's Incapacity and Poetic Instability in the Wife of Bath's Tale." PMLA 102 (1987): 20-28.Hall, Vernon, Jr. "Sherlock Holmes and the Wife of Bath." Baker Street Journal 3 (1948): 84-93. This fanciful article casts Holmes as an armchair detective proving with close textual reading that the Wife of Bath murdered her fourth husband.Chaucer IndexInterpretation of the wife of Bath in "Canterbury Tales"FeminismThe wife of Bath described by Chaucer had the rebellious nature of Eve in her heart of hearts. She was strong and independent, ignoring the authority, having the courage to challenge fate, enjoying equal status with men in the family and had even more power than men as the decision-maker of the family. Her appearance and behavior revealed everywhere the Humanism of the liberation of women which was in accord with Chaucer's demand.First of all, the emergence of the wife of Bath was in itself a kind of criticism of secular bias. She was depicted riding a high horse, wearing a heavy large wide-brimmed hat and red stockings，eating and living with men and talking cheerfully and humorously in the way to the pilgrimage. She had neither, as the women of traditional culture in the Middle Ages，brought disasters or misfortunes to male pilgrims, nor received any discrimination from male pilgrims, let alone been seen as monsters as the women in "Beowulf". On the contrary, male pilgrims were very happy to hear her story and flirt with her. She was completely equal with the men. Second, her story fully demonstrated Chaucer’s powerful lash to the outlook of marriage of the society at that time. In the feudal society of middle Ages that dominated by men, the women's natural attribution was marriage. Living totally in the situation of the second sex, they were placed in position for a man to choose. The men's mate selection criteria: being pretty and outstanding, or loyal, gentle, and dedicated as the Virgin Mary. ·Again, the image of the wife of Bath as well as her status in the family was also the reproduction of Chaucer’s calling the society for the empowerment of women. He tried to appeal to the social advancement of women, the liberation of women, abolition of the feudal ethical code and breaking the patriarchal ideology. In that male-centered society in the middle Ages, the feudal ethical code and canon set all sorts of Doctrine of Women. Chastity has become an important Doctrine of Women. Women's chastity was seen as a matter of primary importance related to whether the bloodline of the heir who would inherit the family property was pure. Therefore, women's chastity was beyond life. This deep-rooted moral standard was unshakable. In the 18th century British intellectual leaders Dr. Johnson put it bluntly: Imagine how important a woman's chastity is for society! The property all around the world rely on it to protect. In "Canterbury Tales" the woman married five times a lifetime, which was outrageous at that time. But how about the woman? He just completely ignored these. What’s more, she boldly shouted, "I do not want complete chastity". She claims that: "Marriage is not a crime, and it is better to marry than to burn." In addition, she courageously questioned: "Have you ever seen the gods against marriage?" When the Saints discuss on chastity, they do not offer anything of discipline. There may be some words to persuade women not to marry, but persuasion is not a ban. "She confidently announced:" God gave me the freedom to marry; so I am not shy or worried about being scolded for remarrying; my spouse died. I can remarry.” "Obviously, the words of the wife of Bath sharply and undisguisedly said the extreme dissatisfaction with the feudal ethics of a flesh-and-blood woman in medieval society, claiming that marriage for men and women should be free and should not be affected by others. With rebellious nature of Eve at the bottom of her heart，The wife of Bath was not only conscious to resist social constraints imposed on her body, but also determined to break through the cage to live according to her own ideals. In the feudal society of the middle Ages, women were detained in the family. And they are always in a subordinate status in their families. But the wife of Bath in her family was paramount. She was the family decision-makers, successively had three husbands all bowing down to her, listening to her disposal. They were very amiable to her, and were all that happy. Undoubtedly，what Chaucer preached here was that only when the right of wife is higher than that of husband, can the family be harmonious, can the couple be happy, which was contrary to feudal patriarchal thinking.Without doubt, the wife of Bath's dominance in the family was not handed to by her husband, but obtained through the resistance. Her fourth lover had another sweetheart, which was understandable for men could have many concubines at that time, not to mention catting around?Only women were obliged to be loyal to her husband. But the wife of Bath may not think so, nor submissive, in addition to beat her husband the back with a wooden stick, she also found a lover outside combating poison with poison. The purpose was to arouse her husband's anger and jealousy and let him suffer in the oil of his own, so that others see and acclaim. Finally, her husband disgrace in front of people, with irrelievable anger, and finally died of depression. The wife of Bath won. Chaucer used this to warn women: to achieve an equal footing, they must rely on their own to win. Inadvertently, Chaucer had encouraged women in the family not to accept their fate, and told them it was necessary to resist, and only with resistance can they subdue the husband right, can they liberate themselves. From her five times marriages, the story she told and her position in the family (she was the family's new decision-maker, dominated her husband and had inherited all the property her husband had), we can see that Chaucer although not explicitly put forward the issue of women's rights, but he went against the patriarchal oppression through the doings of the wife of Bath. Opposing to the concept of chastity and advocated the right of wife more than husband’s power. All these undoubtedly are his concrete manifestation of women’s emancipation.。

445 A good WIF was ther OF biside BATHE,There was a good WIFE OF beside BATH,446 But she was somdel deef, and that was scathe.But she was somewhat deaf, and that was a pity. 447 Of clooth-makyng she hadde swich an hauntShe had such a skill in cloth-making448 She passed hem of Ypres and of Gaunt.She surpassed them of Ypres and of Ghent.449 In al the parisshe wif ne was ther noonIn all the parish there was no wife450 That to the offrynge bifore hire sholde goon;Who should go to the Offering before her;451 And if ther dide, certeyn so wrooth was sheAnd if there did, certainly she was so angry452 That she was out of alle charitee.That she was out of all charity (love for her neighbor). 453 Hir coverchiefs ful fyne weren of ground;Her kerchiefs were very fine in texture;454 I dorste swere they weyeden ten poundI dare swear they weighed ten pound455 That on a Sonday weren upon hir heed.That on a Sunday were upon her head.456 Hir hosen weren of fyn scarlet reed,Her stockings were of fine scarlet red,457 Ful streite yteyd, and shoes ful moyste and newe. Very closely laced, and shoes very supple and new. 458 Boold was hir face, and fair, and reed of hewe.Bold was her face, and fair, and red of hue.459 She was a worthy womman al hir lyve:She was a worthy woman all her life:460 Housbondes at chirche dore she hadde fyve,She had (married) five husbands at the church door,461 Withouten oother compaignye in youthe --Not counting other company in youth --462 But thereof nedeth nat to speke as nowthe.But there is no need to speak of that right now.463 And thries hadde she been at Jerusalem;And she had been three times at Jerusalem;464 She hadde passed many a straunge strem;She had passed many a foreign sea;465 At Rome she hadde been, and at Boloigne,She had been at Rome, and at Boulogne,466 In Galice at Seint-Jame, and at Coloigne.In Galicia at Saint-James (of Compostella), and at Cologne. 467 She koude muchel of wandrynge by the weye.She knew much about wandering by the way.468 Gat-tothed was she, soothly for to seye.She had teeth widely set apart, truly to say.469 Upon an amblere esily she sat,She sat easily upon a pacing horse,470 Ywympled wel, and on hir heed an hatWearing a large wimple, and on her head a hat471 As brood as is a bokeler or a targe;As broad as a buckler or a shield;472 A foot-mantel aboute hir hipes large,An overskirt about her large hips,473 And on hir feet a paire of spores sharpe.And on her feet a pair of sharp spurs.474 In felaweshipe wel koude she laughe and carpe.In fellowship she well knew how to laugh and chatter.475 Of remedies of love she knew per chaunce,She knew, as it happened, about remedies for love476 For she koude of that art the olde daunce.For she knew the old dance (tricks of the trade) of that art.。