This week, the task was reading Chapters 16-17 of Medieval Philosophy, the Wife of Bath’s Tale of The Canterbury Tale, and Philokalia: Nicephorus the Solitary. The Wife of Bath recites her autobiography, announcing in her very first word that “experience” will be her guide. Analytically, what is quite prevalent is the use of marriage and anti marriage stereotypes in the first part of the prologue. For example, she describes herself as sexually voracious but at the same time as someone who only has sex to get money, thereby combining two contradictory stereotypes. Herself as a character represents the entanglement with the cosmic symbolism of marriage. The Wife of Bath disrupts the narrative of marriage as a symbol of spiritual submission and a means of strict hierarchy. One can see this in the interjection of Pardoner. When she describes how she dominated her husband, playing on a fear that was common to men, Pardoner’s nerves are revealed. Despite their contradictions, all of these ideas about women were used by men to support a hierarchy and the representation of marriage, in which men dominated women. One also can see the Wife of Bath’s indiscretion with her relationship identity. While she asserts herself in her marriage with her first three husbands, she finds herself losing herself with her fourth and fifth. When the Wife of Bath describes how she fell in love with her fifth husband, despite her pragmatism, she reveals her softer side. She recognizes that he used the same tactics against her as she used against other men – beating and overbearing – but she cannot stop herself from desiring him. Through the prologue, Chaucer is essentially mixing a sense of feminism and women empowerment with church teachings. Much like women were preconceived back in the day, the unreliability of the Wife of Bath is called into question. Twice in her Prologue, the Wife calls attention to her habit of lying—“and al was fals,” she states (382, 582). These statements certainly highlight our awareness of the fact that she’s giving a performance, and they also put her entire life story in question. One is left wondering to what extent we should even believe the “experience” of the Wife of Bath, and whether she is not, a mean-spirited satire on Chaucer’s part, meant to represent the fickleness of women. The tale of the Wife of Bath can be explained in the analysis of this quote: “My lady and my love..For as yow liketh it suffiseth me,” (Chaucer 254, lines 1230-35). In the conclusion of the Wife’s tale, the knight’s advice becomes his undoing. The moral of the tale seems to be that women will happily be loyal as long as it is their choice. However, the Wife of Bath herself offers no specific commentary on the story and its redeeming depiction of women.
Other than Chaucer, the concept of hagiography is prevalent through the account of John Chrysostom and Dionysius the Areopagite. I was exceptionally enthralled by the passage showing how “the sacred and perfecting institutor of divine laws established our most pious hierarchy,” (Foltz 106). The essence of hierarchy is modeled off of heaven, and after knowing the story of creation, one can see how the dissolution of hierarchy can be a road leading to sin. Additionally, the Philokalia was a vast collection of letters showing the emotional salvation in tangent with God. I was particularly fascinated with the passage on how “anger overcomes us and really overtakes out intellect and desire”. In a philosophical sense, it makes a lot of sense how our impulses are connected with that of faith.
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