A Study on the Anti-Feminist Tendencies in Chaucer's Portrayal of the Wife of Bath
Abstract
This study picks The Wife of Bath's Prologue and The Wife of Bath's Tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales as research objects. It analyzes the character of the Wife of Bath from two sides: feminism and anti-feminism. The results show the Wife of Bath's ways of speaking are still limited in the male-dominated discourse framework. Her so-called "feminist" features are actually a hidden compromise with patriarchal ideas. The article also looks into the anti-feminist trends shown in Chaucer's description of the Wife of Bath. It studies the social and cultural background of 14th-century England to find the ideological roots of his thoughts. Finally, it shows the Wife of Bath is a literary creation. Through this character, the male author expresses patriarchal thinking by using the strategy of "narrative transvestism".
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