The Wife of Bath: Hurting Rather than Helping Feminism

Paper Summary:

This brief but concise paper points out the many factors which identify the Wife of Bath, Alisoun, as an anti-feminist, including her viewpoint on: Violence within marriage, honesty, equality of the sexes and feminine roles in society. The writer of this paper succeeds in disproving many critics opinions that the Wife of Bath was one of the first feminists in literature.

From the Paper:

"Alisoun also describes a fight between her fifth husband, Jankin, and herself. They strike each other repeatedly, and she goes even so far as to push him back into the fire. Violence is by no means a true aspect of feminism; "she seems to see nothing wrong with the most horrible things that can be done to a woman, such as battery and rape." Furthermore, she shows absolute disrespect for her own body by engaging in domestic violence, and by treating herself and her sexuality as something that can be sold to the highest bidder, "be he short or tall, dark or fair; I didn't care."

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