FAMOUS PLAYWRIGHT POET AND OTHERS
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
|
Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
|
|
|
The Wife of Bath appears pragmatic and lively, she is aware of her position. She is wealthy, and represents the new middle class emerging at Chaucer’s time.She is probably the clearest example of a “liberal” woman, who defends her freedom and even uses her power to intimidate men. Chaucer describes her with sarcasm because she represents all what he hates most:pragmatism
|
|
|
The Wife of Bath is a woman of independent means as a professional seamstress, who knows the Scriptures and can speak as an intellectual, but who also takes pilgrimages as social events and admits to having had five husbands.
|
|
|
Either A or B
|
|
|
None of the above
|
Detailed explanation-1: -The Wife of Bath name signifies that she is from the city of Bath located in southwestern England. Her title as “Wife” relates to her role as a woman. During Chaucer’s time, women were defined by their relationships to men rather than according to her own accomplishments.
Detailed explanation-2: -In “The General Prologue, ” Chaucer describes the Wife of Bath as a deaf, gap-toothed woman. She has a bold face and wears ten pounds of “coverchiefs” and a hat on her head (Chaucer 91). She wears a skirt with red stockings and tight-laced supple shoes. She is also a great weaver and has been on many pilgrimages.
Detailed explanation-3: -She is a strong-willed and dominant woman who herself gets what she wants when she wants it. She cannot accept defeat no matter what the cost. She feels that this is the way things should be and men should obey her. She should not be controlled or told what to do by others, especially by a man.
Detailed explanation-4: -Alisoun, the Wife of Bath, is one of very few women pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer’s unfinished collection of poems, The Canterbury Tales, and the only secular female voice (the others being a nun and the Prioress), but she is arguably the most memorable and voluble speaker.