How Is Love Presented In The Pardoner's Tale
Elissa Nunnally
Ms. Pettijohn
English IV- DE
16 September 2014
[Title]
The Canterbury Tales is a work written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the late fourteenth century about a group of pilgrims, of many different occupations and personalities, who are on a journey to visit the shrine of Thomas a Becket. Chaucer discloses corruption in the church that was prevalent to society of the time. Within this work, Chaucer satirizes the pilgrims in ways to mock the practices of the church during the fourteenth century. The Wife of Bath, Friar, and Pardoner are three of the pilgrims in these tales that Chaucer uses to ridicule the church. In Chaucer’s tales, the Pardoner is the most detestable, the Friar is next, which leaves the Wife of Bath as the least abhorrent character. …show more content…
Chaucer satirizes the Wife of Bath by describing her as overweight, gap toothed, and well-practiced in the art of love. She is a lady that travels the world to find pleasure and is confident about her knowledge of love and sexuality. By having five husbands and many lovers before them, she has learned to provide for herself through these experiences. The Wife of Bath is a strong willed, woman of passion that desires to be more powerful than her man or lover. She is a woman of character that knows what she wants and continuously fights against male dominance. The Wife of Bath is the least abhorrent character because even though she makes bad decisions, she doesn’t do anything that hurts other people. Chaucer uses the Wife of Bath’s character to satirize the Church’s cruelty against women by allowing her to speak without restrictions about sex, marriage, and women
Ms. Pettijohn
English IV- DE
16 September 2014
[Title]
The Canterbury Tales is a work written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the late fourteenth century about a group of pilgrims, of many different occupations and personalities, who are on a journey to visit the shrine of Thomas a Becket. Chaucer discloses corruption in the church that was prevalent to society of the time. Within this work, Chaucer satirizes the pilgrims in ways to mock the practices of the church during the fourteenth century. The Wife of Bath, Friar, and Pardoner are three of the pilgrims in these tales that Chaucer uses to ridicule the church. In Chaucer’s tales, the Pardoner is the most detestable, the Friar is next, which leaves the Wife of Bath as the least abhorrent character. …show more content…
Chaucer satirizes the Wife of Bath by describing her as overweight, gap toothed, and well-practiced in the art of love. She is a lady that travels the world to find pleasure and is confident about her knowledge of love and sexuality. By having five husbands and many lovers before them, she has learned to provide for herself through these experiences. The Wife of Bath is a strong willed, woman of passion that desires to be more powerful than her man or lover. She is a woman of character that knows what she wants and continuously fights against male dominance. The Wife of Bath is the least abhorrent character because even though she makes bad decisions, she doesn’t do anything that hurts other people. Chaucer uses the Wife of Bath’s character to satirize the Church’s cruelty against women by allowing her to speak without restrictions about sex, marriage, and women