It's here that I bring up a point that was made in class (by Jordan, if I remember correctly). The point was that, while the wife's method of getting what she wanted seems perfectly acceptable considering her limited resources, in today's society she'd simply be regarded as someone much less credible. Women these days have so many opportunities to draw upon, almost as much as men, so they have no reason to devolve into petty promiscuous activities in order to get what they want.
But isn't this kind of behavior something that we see in female characters a lot these days?
(taken from www.telegraph.co.uk)
The most obvious example that I can think of is Irene Adler from the BBC adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, and it just so happens that she shares a number of traits with the wife. She manipulates men with her body, to the point of even working as an S&M escort. She baffles Sherlock with seduction and blatantly uses both him and others in order to get what she needs. She has access to an innumerable amount of classified government secrets and possesses amazing intelligent as well.
Despite using many of the same tactics and holding a similar mindset to the wife (you know, excluding the whole line of husbands and acceptance of physical abuse thing), Irene is often regarded as an atypical strong female character, and certainly not a whore.
It makes me wonder: if you were to take away the cultural acceptance of domestic abuse, would the wife's character be as positively regarded as a 'well-developed character' by our media standards set today?
I love the example you chose in Irene Adler, mostly because I'm a huge Sherlock fan, but also because she is so similar to the Wife of Bath. I do agree that in modern society she would be condemned for her behavior, but isn't that kind of a double standard? If a woman has five husbands, she is viewed as slut or a whore -- or even a cougar in terms of Jankin being twenty years younger. However, if a man has five wives, he's praised by his friends. Even more so if the women are younger than him. I love the Wife of Bath's character, and I think even in today's society she could be looked up to because she knows what she wants and she goes after it -- even if it is five husbands.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm not even a fan of Chaucer's character the Wife of Bath, yet somehow I keep catching myself defending her. . .
ReplyDeleteJacky - it is funny that you should write this as I was kind of thinking the same thing. I feel that part of the reason some of us are so put off by her behavior is rooted in our failing to hold her accountable to our own social standards. Because her character is not consistent with our image of a dutiful, moral Medieval wifely figure, I think we cast her off as being a Medieval maverick who does not reflect who Medieval women were.
I don't think the Wife of Bath's character would have been as likable in a society where domestic abuse was acceptable. I think her character is supposed to be offensive and abrasive, but since we can't help but apply are modern day standards to her, she becomes strong and admirable almost. I can't help but think that this was not Chaucer's intent, not because of any quotes I can find, but because of the tone of her character. She is loud and outspoken, and I can picture her driving the other travelers crazy on this trip. I think she was really suppose to be unlikeable, but because of the change in times and values we look at her as an admirable pioneer.
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