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Chelsea A. Kerr ENG 22071 Professor White 2 May 2011 Ideas of Women in Marriage Serial monogamy for the Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales is represented as a part of the construct of a heroine whereas it is the signal of a morally reprehensible woman in the case of Gertrude in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Perspective and context, which should be extended to include the intended audience, play a significant role in the representation of what would otherwise be considered identical concepts within the two works. The concept to be examined of the two examples mentioned is essentially how multiple marriages reflect upon a woman and the way that this is represented in the works by Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer respectively. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath allows a representation of many different aspects of the dynamics of relationships between a man and a woman, and stands as a contrast to the typical portrayal of ideal behaviors for women. Gertrude is not as boisterous a character as the Wife of Bath and serves a role of obedience in the wake of her current husband, and her son. The qualities of Gertrude are a stark contrast to those of the Wife of Bath as Shakespeare gives more plain language to the lines of the play spoken by Gertrude. The language used by the Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales tends toward the offensive in some areas when the issues of sexual relations and personal anatomy are raised (Negri, 271). The Wife of Bath’s character is introduced in the “General Prologue” as being loud in both her disposition and her outward Kerr 2 appearance, and this holds true when she gives her own prologue and discusses her five marriages (Negri, 13). While Gertrude is only on her second marriage, the representation in Hamlet of her quality of character and her integrity is not as supportive as the passages from The Canterbury Tales are to the Wife of Bath. Although it is apparent that Hamlet is either obsessed with his mother or that he feels responsible for her, the glimpse of Gertrude that is portrayed is predominantly biased by the view projected through Hamlet’s lines (Appelbaum, 9). In several instances, Hamlet makes cutting remarks about Gertrude’s sexuality and brings to light the negative implications that would be highlighted to the audience, in the case of a live performance, to contribute to the intended perception to be had of Gertrude’s character. In this case, Hamlet’s remarks directly place the perception of Gertrude in an unfavorable light and indicate that her behavior is something to be condemned. Some of the most famous lines from Hamlet are within Prince Hamlet’s berating of Gertrude. “Frailty, thy name is woman” comes from Hamlet’s speech regarding the short period of time between his father’s death and his mother’s second marriage “Within a month…/She married. O, most wicked speed, to post/With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (Appelbaum, 11). With the Wife of Bath, the perception that is garnered is primarily influenced directly from the perspective of the Wife of Bath herself, the only outside portrayal comes from the general narrator. Here Chaucer has the Wife of Bath make her claim about her situation “Praise be to God that I have wedded five!/...Welcome the sixth whenever come he shall./Forsooth, I’ll not keep chaste for good and all;/When my good husband from the world is gone,/Some Christian man shall marry me anon;/For then, the apostle says that I am free/To wed, in God’s name where it pleases me.” (Negri, 269). The contrast between the selected passages is extreme, and there is Kerr 3 a lot going on between them as well. First, the point of view in the first quote is a secondary perspective account from Hamlet regarding his mother, and the second quote is a first person account from the Wife of Bath regarding her own state of living. Secondly, Gertrude has only married twice, while the Wife of Bath has married five times and has no shame in seeking a sixth husband Kerr 4 Works Cited Negri, Paul, ed. The Canterbury Tales. Trans. J. U. Nicolson. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2004. Rpt. of Canterbury Tales: Rendered into Modern English. New York: Garden City, 1934. 26898. Print. Appelbaum, Stanley, ed. Hamlet. Mineola, NY: Dover, 1992. Rpt. of The Works of William Shakespeare. London: Macmillan and Co., 1892. 7-119. Print.