Table of ContentsIntroductionDiscussionConclusionsIntroductionAlthough there are places where the views of the medieval listener and the contemporary listener coincide, the contexts generally very different in which we evaluate the Wife of Bath divides our answers. Set in a strict world of Catholicism, aspects of religious blasphemy such as the allusion to "light", like Jesus, to justify one's actions may elicit more gasps from a medieval audience, but the argument offered is just as questionable in modern minds. In contrast, the allusions to feminism would fit the 21st century quite well, but its persistence in dominating marriage and infidelity does just the opposite. Combined with her multiple contradictions, she is presented as a largely unreliable narrator, and both listeners would be unsure how to respond to the Wife of Bath. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"?Get the original essayDiscussionThe Canterbury Tales follows the journey of a number of pilgrims through the stories they will tell, in heroic verse, after first giving the characters a prologue, then allowing them to introduce themselves to the group. This forms several levels of narration, with Chaucer's own thoughts most apparent in the prologue, then overlaid by the Wife of Bath as a character – both honestly and superficially, as her existence as an unreliable narrator creates depth additional to his arguments. her word is questionable, where she uses the teaching that "God commanded us to enjoy ourselves and multiply" as justification for enjoying marital sex, but despite her five "housbonds at the golden church", she does not has no children. Furthermore, his love of marital sex proves false: “I let him do his kindness.” So while she makes many strong arguments with realistic domestic imagery and careful manipulation of biblical teachings, such as dismissing St. Paul's call for virginity as mere advice and that "counsel is not not a command,” she slowly constructs the true objective of her speech. is aptly summarized by the imagery of the “nigard who was a man to light a candle in his lantern”; in essence, the wife is attempting to justify adultery, and the reference to such a Christian idea (Jesus being the light of the world), while attempting to do so, ensures that a medieval audience would condemn this woman. This is the height of rebellion in a patriarchal society, going from calls for a simple “lion of the woods” to cuckolding. In a medieval world this would have been rejected for two reasons: first, the religious implications, essentially the restrictions that the Church placed on sex and especially the prohibition of extra-marital affairs; secondly, in a relationship, the man was supposed to have the power and the woman was his property – such a reversal of roles would not be allowed. However, a contemporary listener might have a slightly different view of the Wife of Bath in this context. respect. While the idea of ​​adultery remains equally appalling, his previous arguments seem proto-feminist in the sense that both should be equal in a relationship. She says that if she must give him her body, likewise "I have power throughout my life over his own body, and nothing over him" and that he cannot "be master of my body and my property" . Initially this idea arouses some sympathy in the modern listener, but the perseverance of his argument soon makes him.