Comments on Marriage
Many tales in the Canterbury Tales make some comment about marriage. These comments offer different perspectives of marital relationships. The Wife of Bath expresses a marriage can be happy only after a woman has gained complete sovereignty over her husband. The Clerk reveals an opposite view in his tale of a totally submissive and obedient wife. Marriage portrayed in the Franklin’s tale is something in between the extremes of the Wife of Bath and the Clerk. The Franklin, on the surface, presents an idealized view of marriage. Although most of her arguments are presented in her extensive prologue, The Wife of Bath’s tale exemplifies her position that women seek dominance in marriage. In the tale, a knight rapes a woman. To escape being hung, his punishment is that he must find out what it is that women most desire. He discovers from an old ugly women that, “Wommen desiren to have sovereynetee/ As wel over hir housband as hir love,/ And for to been in maistrie hym above� (l 1038-1040). The knight is then forced by the queen t
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Wife Bath’s, Dorigen Averagus, Walter Griselda, Wife Bath, Geoffrey Chaucer’s, Finally Walter, Canterbury Tales, Bath’s Clerk, Clerk Franklin, wife bath’s, Comments Marriage, view marriage, franklin’s tale, complete sovereignty, walter tells, opposite view, wife bath, word ne, canterbury tales,
Approximate Word count = 724
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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