Today most feminists commonly depict the Wife of Bath from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, as the ideal model for the feminist literary figure. ... In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses a style of writing that tends to make fun of and point out the inner controversy of each pilgrim. ... (Diamond 69) However, when we talk about someone like this, we view a fictional character as if she might be real. ... (69) In The Wife of Bath's Tale itself Chaucer continues to make fun of women with the question "what it is most desire". ... I nil leve no tales: I knowe you for a t...

• Word Count: 1773
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Chaucer's main target of his satire and criticism throughout his Canterbury Tales is the Anglo-Saxon church. Even though in this tale he focuses more on the gender debate, his contempt of the corrupt church and its disciples is embodied in the Wife's prologue. ... This sort of authority was responsible for the horrible distortion of woman's character and place in society and thus Chaucer felt his satirical and sarcastic attack about love in marriage was necessary. Chaucer does it through the Wife of Bath as a medium to reach the hopelessly ignorant women of the time should the...

• Word Count: 1579
• Approx Pages: 6