大学英语读书笔记

Comment on The Wife of Bath’s Tale

Throughout the story, I consider Chaucer put his both sympathy and satirize into it. According Chaucer’s description, the wife was very cunning and always had an excuse for her legitimacy of five marriages. And she’s proud of what she did that using many kinds of lies to conquer the previous old but rich men, making them piss away all their money on her. Although the forth husband took her youth and beauty away, Alison took it back from her fifth young and handsome husband again. What’s more, she still believed in Mr. Right and despite a number of failed marriages behind her, but urged to seek the sixth although she is more than fifty years old. And she do finds comfort in the arms of her 22-year-old so-star Jerome. They fall pass ionately in love, but behind the smiles the pressures of their age difference are never far away. Based on this point, Chaucer shows his satirize into it. As the tale has such a reversal or fantastic story line. Chaucer describes Alison with plenty of bad words and seemed like to build an image of dissolute women over the entire surface. But the truth is not. However When it comes to the reason that why Chaucer used such bad words on Alison, from another view I think this is, also, for the most part, a feminism article. Just like the traditional roles between husband and wife reversed. If a man married five times and people may think that’s not a big deal, so why women could not. What’s more, Alison has already beyond fifty years old. People might not accept women in her age falling love with a guy that is only about twenty. And this is really satirizing what the author actually wanted to convey. Since the common version is usually very tough. Meanwhile, people are difficult to accept new things. Therefore, I guess the author in fact lashed out at this kind of phenomenon. He was opposed to the unfairness or prejudices on women. And he advocated women’s right and the equality of men and women.

To sum up, what feelings Chaucer might to express is very complex. On the surface Chaucer showed the satirizing on the wife with derogatory words. On the other hand, the hidden theme Chaucer wanted to say is a kind of feminism, the fairness between men and women. Therefore, taken in this sense, Chaucer was sympathetic with Alison.

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