Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Take any pilgrim whose tale we read and show Chaucer artfully matches the story to the teller.

Of the many stories he writes the tale told by the Wife of Bath is the most verbal and for its time the most forthright exposition of the role women did not have but could have in that time period. The wife of Bath's story is fairly general a man is accused of trying to rape a woman and the sentence for this charge is to be hung. The mean pleads and pleads to be acquitted of his charge so the queen of the time says he will not be hung if he finds the answer to a certain question. The question is "What is it women most desire." He is given one year and one day to find this answer and until the day before his "judgment day" he has numerous answers from many different women. Finally the night before he goes to an older woman and she offers him a trade the answer for him. The answer she gives him, which is the correct answer is that women want control. His life is saved by this woman whom he now owes his life to, and this old woman becomes a "Wife of Bath." Despite her age, we do not know much of her background either but we know she knows how to control a man because of how she treats the one she has been given.

The man goes on to make many mistakes, making decisions the lady should be making, or thinks she should be making. And with that the Wife of Bath has held 5 husbands and is in search of her 6th we do not know if this lady has been lonely all of her life or not but we know she wants control and seems to enjoy struggling to get it. The Wife of Bath most enjoyed her last 2 husbands because she had the least control over them. She enjoyed this because it was a challenge but she was always working towards having her way. This philosophy was way out of date for the time period Chaucer wrote it in because he Wife of Bath is also like the queen. She likes to have the money and riches and the queen is what she wants to be a woman in her time who has power, and that the queen doth have. But overall the old hag, who has beauty in a different way, seems to be the Wife of Bath. What we also have to wonder is if the woman figure is being made out to be naпve or cynical. Depending on how you look it depends on how you may take it if you see her as controlling and that she has forced the man to say that she can make the decisions, this being the cynical look or if you think the man has just realized what she has doing and is taking the known easy road out. The Wife of Bath I see as being more the naпve, idealistic old hag. Another correlation is how sly they both are and how they like to gossip.

I am pretty positive Chaucer meant for the Old Hag to be related to the Wife of Bath for the different reasons I have explained. It is still odd how the character made it into Canterbury Tales but interesting all the same; The Wife of Bath's story best describe whom she herself actually is.

Chaucer's portraits of the clergy and church related position show evidence of a religious system full of corruption and hypocrisy. Examine in depth 2 or 3 of Chaucer's pilgrim portraits from the prologue, illustrate or demonstrate how the medieval church was in need of reform.

The late 14th century church almost a disgrace to the meaning and reputation it was supposed to be upholding. This was not true for all of the church as is true all of Chaucer's characters were not exact remakes of their real life counterpart. The clergy (Monk and Prioress and Friar) and other church related affiliates (Summoner and Pardoner) are made out to be corrupting the church. The Friar was a member of the mendicants, who were a group that traveled from town to town supposedly helping the poor this was however not what he did. The Summoner and pardoner were both not qualified for the positions they held and were in a sense stealing money from those that already didn't have it. The Prioress's cross was something to be questioned because it was more a piece of jewelry than a resemblance of her faith. Many church officials were in it for the wrong reasons and mainly for their own gain.

The Prioress, a nun who is head of her convent, is not a nun we would of as being a prioress. She is someone who has a good attitude but is in the wrong state of mind. She enjoys dressing in exquisite clothing that is full of jewels and bright colors. She is a lady who would rather be out on the town and saying her "Hail Mary's." She can speak French but her English accent sneaks through. She seems to be aspiring to be a member of court, her name is Madame Eglentyne and although not a true member of the court she does her best to uphold those mannerisms. Her motto, which is found on her arms on her prayer beads, is "Love conquers all." All of these details individually don't show how she some who is corrupting the church but when they are all put together and you realize this is what the other nuns in the convent are looking up to, you get worried that these types might continue to sway the church from its ideals. The Prioress reminds me somewhat of Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act except it is reversed, you had an outgoing woman who loved to have fun in many different ways trying to become a traditional law abiding nun, and the Prioress is the reverse, she doesn't want to be traditional.

The Friar is another clergy member who fine ways to help himself rather than help others. He is a member of the mendicants, which means he travels around so that people can repent their sins and he is supposed to be helping the poor and lepers. Instead he travels to the house of those that are richer and gives them repentance for a "donation" to the church, which he then keeps for himself. He bribes, in a sense, the innkeepers to give him food and shelter along his travels while others are sleeping in dirt streets with little to eat and little hope for the future. The money he receives he uses to buy clothing you would see the wealthy wearing and he is actually living a life of leisure and comfort due to the way he tricks people. It was also thought that due to the bald shiny and smooth head the Friar had he would ride with out his hood on which was not supposed to happen because it was disgraceful. He is one of the many clergy and church officials that overtime cheated people out of money, they sold "repentance" but this really isn't logically possible but people believed it and gave them money anyways.

The Friar and Prioress are just two examples of corruption in the church, this corruption continues today, I don't believe to the same extent but some people are just in it for the wrong reasons. The church has come a long way since these times but it really hasn't