Battle of the Sexes

Total words: 1063
The knight's actions lead him to the understanding of the opposite sex, "A woman wants the self-same sovereignty Over her husband as over her lover, And master him; he must not be above her" (Geoffrey Chaucer 286). This begins the women's retaliation to the male domination over the women. The first reinforcement of the male domination over women in Geoffrey Chaucer's, The Canterbury Tales, is when the lustful knight is tempted by the queen's beauty, she is a force he cannot resist, and takes advantage of her. The knight then commences his journey to find the answer of the queen's question, "What is the thing that most women desire?" (282). To find this answer the knight must honor the Wife of Bath's demand of marriage and endure the consequences. The Wife uses her craftiness to imply the answer of her choices of being old and ugly, yet faithful, or to be young and beautiful, yet be untrue. Because the knight answers the question by saying the Wife should choose, they live happily ever after. This portrays the Wife's cleverness to gain her husbands faith, and proves her domination. In Chaucer's, The Canterbury Tales, the author uses contrasting symbolism to express ironic and elegiac tones to portray the Wife's challenge to the misogynist ideas of her time. The poem narrates, the knight's acceptance to the Wife, the fall of the knight to the Wife, and the Wife's domination over the knight through the knight's defeat to portray the Wife's challenge to the misogynist ideas of her time.
The Wife of Bath imposes a situation for the knight in exchange for the answer to the queen's question. Chaucer portrays the knight's blindness to the beautiful women and the Wife's trickery by saying, "Dancers and dance all vanished into air! There wasn't a living creature to be seen Save one old woman crouched upon the green. A fouler-looking creature I suppose Could scarcely be imagined" (285). By highlighting "Dancers" and "fouler-looking" the author portrays an ironic tone displaying the contrasting symbolism of beauty and freshness to old and ugly. This scene demonstrates the Wife's domination over the knight because the Wife is controlling him with lust. Therefore, the knight has little control over his actions because of his temptations as when he took advantage of the queen. Chaucer demonstrates the will of the Wife by saying, " ‘If you could tell me I would pay your hire' [. . .] ‘swear to do Whatever I shall require of you' [. . .] ‘Upon my honor,' he answered, ‘I agree'" (285). Chaucer emphasizes "hire" and "honor" to portray ironic tones because an honorable deed would be without pay, therefore contrasting symbolism is implied. There is also an elegiac tone because by using "hire," confinement and containment are implied through a contract of words. By using contrasting symbolism, Chaucer demonstrates the trap that the knight is falling into all to the Wife's pleasure. The author defines the defining moment of possibly the knight's last words: "He stood not silent like a beast or post, But gave his answer with the ringing word of a man's voice [. . .] ‘A woman wants the self-same sovereignty Over her husband as over her lover [. . .] whether you kill Or spare me; please yourself. I wait your will'" (286). The contrasting symbolism of "kill" and "spare" creates ironic and elegiac tones to portray the power that one woman holds over a man, to decide his fate. The understanding gained by the knight expresses the victory of the Wife because the knight realizes the key to a woman's happiness. The Wife saves the knight's life rather than letting him die to show her power. The acceptance into the Wife's plan upholds consequences for the knight.
The knight endures the pain of the consequences of the life-saving answer given by the Wife of Bath. To express the dominion of the Wife over the knight Chaucer exclaims, "Twas I who taught this answer to the knight, For which he swore and pledged his honour to it, That the first thing I asked of him he'd do it, So far as it should lie within his might" (286). The contrasting symbolism of a young man at a woman's mercy is so strange at their time because a male rarely is ever in debt of a woman implies an ironic tone. The ironic tone portrays the revolutionary movement that is taking place in front of the queen, that the Wife has control over a male knight. Referring to the Wife of Bath, Kenneth Oberembt, says, "Her rebellion against masculine authority is a subconscious response to the frustration of her biological instinct to conceive and bear children" (288). This rebellion proves the Wife has a need to have control by conceiving children, carrying herself through the next generations. Chaucer demonstrates the creative plan of the Wife to dominate the knight through personal experience by expressing, "Before this court I ask you then, sir knight, To keep your word and take me as your wife; For well you know that I have saved your life" (Chaucer 286). Ironic and elegiac tones are expressed through the contrasting symbolism, the old life of the knight is dying because the Wife has "saved" his previous life and is beginning a new stage through marriage. Therefore, the contrasting symbolism expresses the dominance of the Wife is still obtained, even through marriage. To highlight the anguish of the knight caused by the Wife's demand the author says, "‘But for God's love think of a new request, Take all my goods, but leave my body free' [. . .] Yet in the end his pleading and defiance All went for nothing, he was forced to wed" (287). Kenneth Oberembt displays the Wife's dominance: "The wife's will to dominate husbands and her wish that all wives be as she is and no less [. . .]" (288). The ironic tone portrayed by contrasting symbolism expresses the conquest of the knight by the Wife, which would seem highly improbable. An elegiac tone is portrayed through the knight's defiance to acquiesce to the Wife's plan of contradicting misogyny. "All" and "nothing" characterizes the decision that the knight had to make, he had to sacrifice his life, or else die without anything. The Wife's marriage to the knight represents the complete conquest and defeat of the husband.

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