Anyways, I wanted to talk about the struggles of writing a strong female character. It really is a difficult thing to find, even in this day and age. But just imagine how hard it would've been to write one in Chaucer's time! I mean, in Beowulf the women weren't even mentioned on the family tree. It was as if they were just some weird machine that once man inserted his "seed" (I hate using the proper term for it) into it, then heirs or other little machines popped out. I cringe even just thinking about that.
Maybe Chaucer was sitting down at his little writing desk and thinking "You know what'll blow the pants off these guys; if I were to write the WOMAN in charge instead of the man. Yeah, that'll be super cool and edgy." or maybe he even actually viewed women as people (shocker, I know). But, whatever the reason, the Wife of Bath was born!
Now, since strong female characters were completely unheard of at the time, Chaucer had to write his character using what was common for that age. Yeah, that means the Wife has to bascially use sex as a weapon, but even modern women do that. She also has to deal with a bit of domestic abuse (it's wrong, wrong, WRONG), but so does the women Tyler Perry often portrays in his films and they come out strong on the other side....for the most part.
Maybe Chaucer was trying to be the Miley Cyrus of the Middle Ages and maybe he was trying to help his male readers see women as people, rather than creepy baby making machines (personally, I prefer the second option....I mean can you imagine a red-lipped, twerking, Chaucer just licking everything that is within a one foot radius of him? Gross.).
All I'm trying to say is that a) Strong female characters were difficult to write back then, b) I really needed to write a blog, but was having issues coming up with a suitable topic so I just wrote down a bunch of thoughts that came into my head about something I read, and c) I wanted people to enjoy this meme I found that is clearly the Wife of Bath and Jankin and not any comic book characters.
There is a Greek play called Lysistrata where the Greek women tell their men that they are going to abstain from sex unless the war is ended. It is a comedy how the sexual deprivation effects both genders. This is thought to be a very feminist play, even though it was written long before any women’s rights movements. On the other hand, some critics have said it was an even greater comedy back when it was written because of the absurdity that any woman would have the ability to deny sex to her husband. I feel this sentiment may be a subsequent purpose of Chaucer’s character, the Wife of Bath.
ReplyDeleteIt is cool to think that Chaucer chose to write about the Wife of Bath in a time where strong women were hard to find - in literature and in the real world. Especially since, as you mentioned, it is still somewhat difficult to find strong women portrayed in the world today. I don't mind that Chaucer made the Wife of Bath so sexual because that was the only thing she had at her disposal at the time. That being said, I don't think it would be a bad thing to have a character such as herself in more modern literature. I view her as a lady who knows what she wants and uses what she has to get it.
ReplyDeleteFor starters, that is a fantastic meme. Although the image you present of Chaucer as Miley Cyrus is a bit...scarring. *Insert shudder here* I think the Wife of Bath is a very empowering figure as well as a great fleshed out character. Yes she uses sex to gain power, but like you said, people still do that. I don't think she's meant to be everyone's cup of tea but I do think she is meant to portray a woman as something other than a "creepy baby making machine". She worked what she had and didn't apologize for it.
ReplyDeleteYou blog post is really cool. I like this idea! I agree with your statement about it being hard to create women characters. I didn't understand why women were not respected in this time period...and I probably never will. Also, women are still not respected in today's world, I wish I knew the reason for why this occurs but I don't. It is very sad and difficult because as a woman, you wish to have a voice just like the next man. Unfortunately, that was not acceptable in the Medieval Time Period and it doesn't really seem acceptable at times now. However, your post is awesome and you have a great topic! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Wife of Bath is an extremely strong female character. I think it was a great the way Chaucer described her, and made her a dimensional character. I personally, wonder what is intention behind her character were? Was he mocking this type of women, or Did he respect them? i agree that there are lacking characters like her even in modern times, which is strange since women are supposed to be equal. They still, in modern fictions, are damsels in distress, and when they do try to portray themselves as strong, they come across cute and endearing, traits that Chaucer did not capture with the Wife of Bath.
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