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The Canterbury Tales: Wife Of Bath - Online Term Paper

The Canterbury Tales: Wife Of Bath

In the Hollywood blockbuster Basic Instinct, Sharon Stone plays a devious,
manipulative, sex-driven woman who gets whatever she wants through her ploys for
control. Stone's portrayal of this character is unforgettable and makes the
movie. In book or film, the most memorable female characters are those who
break out of the stereotypical “good wife” mold. When an author or actress uses
this technique effectively, the woman often carries the story. In Geoffrey
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, he portrays the Wife of Bath, Alison, as a woman
who bucks the tradition of her times with her brashness and desire for control
to present a woman's point of view and to evoke some sympathy for her.

In ...

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(P16). Despite this quote
from the holy writ, the Wife states that ther are no other arguments “Eek wel I
woot he [Jesus] saide that myn housbonde/Sholde lete fader and moder and take
me,/But of no nombre mencion made he [Jesus]--/Of bigamye or of octagamye” (P30).
She maintains her position and dismisses the one contention in the Bible by
stating in relation to the above quote “Wat that he mente therby [she] can nat
sayn,/But that I axe why the fifthe man/Was noon housbonde to the Samaritan?/How
manye mighte she han in mariage?/Yit herde I nevere tellen in myn age/Upon this
nombre diffinicioun” (P20). A true account of her brashness is when she states
that sex organs are for pleasure as well as function. She states that “In
wifhood wol I use myn instrument/As freely as my Makere hath it sent” (P155).
She displays her ruthless side when she makes her cheating husband, the fourth,
think that she is cheating and revels in this victory by saying “in his own
greece I made him ...

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The Canterbury Tales: Wife Of Bath. (2007, February 15). Retrieved January 1, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Canterbury-Tales-Wife-Of-Bath/60327

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 2/15/2007 03:18:19 AM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 862
Pages: 4

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