IndexIntroductionDiscussionConclusionsIntroductionWhile there are places where the views of the medieval listener and the contemporary listener coincide, generally the very different contexts in which we evaluate the Wife of Bath divides our responses. Set in a strict world of Catholicism, aspects of religious blasphemy such as the allusion to the "lighte", like Jesus, in justifying his acts may elicit more gasps from a medieval audience, but the argument put forward is equally questionable in modern minds. In contrast, the nods to feminism would fit quite comfortably into the twenty-first century, but its persistence in the domain of marriage and infidelity do exactly the opposite. Combined with her multiple contradictions, she is presented as a largely unreliable narrator, and both listeners would be unsure how exactly to respond to the Wife of Bath. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Discussion The Canterbury Tales follows the journey of a number of pilgrims through the stories they will tell, in heroic verse, after first providing a prologue to the characters, and then allowing them to represent themselves to the group. This forms multiple layers of narrative, with Chaucer's thoughts most evident in the prologue, and then layered by the Wife of Bath as a character – both truthfully and superficially, as her existence as an unreliable narrator creates further depth to his arguments. Immediately his word is questionable, in which he uses the teaching that "God condemns us for being born and multiplied" as justification for enjoying marital sex, but despite his five "hosbondes at chirche dore" he has no children. Furthermore, his love of marital sex turns out to be false: "I let him do his nice." Then, while formulating many firm arguments with realistic domestic imagery and careful manipulation of biblical teachings, such as dismissing St. Paul's call for virginity as mere advice and "advice is not a commandment," he slowly builds the true purpose of his speech.This is well summed up by the image of the 'nigard who wanted a man to light a candle at his lantern'; in essence, the Wife attempts to justify adultery, and the reference to that Christian idea (Jesus is the light of the world) as she attempts to do so ensures that a medieval audience would condemn this woman. This is the pinnacle of rebellion in a patriarchal society, surpassing the demands of a simple "wooden lion" to cuckolding. In the medieval world this would have been rejected for two reasons: first, the religious implications, essentially the restrictions that the Church placed on sex and above all the prohibition of extramarital relationships; secondly, in a relationship the man was supposed to have the power and the woman was part of his property – such a role reversal would not be allowed. However, a contemporary listener might have a slightly different view of the Wife of Bath in this respect. While the idea of ​​adultery remains equally scary, her previous arguments seem proto-feminist in the sense that both should be equal in a relationship. He says that while he must give him his body, so also "I have power throughout my life over his body, and nothing over him" and that he cannot "be master of my body and my good." Originally, this idea evokes some sympathy in the modern listener, but the perseverance of its argument soon moves it beyond acceptability, vying for.