Download Kerr Chelsea A. Kerr ENG 22071 Professor White 2 May 2011 Ideas

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
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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
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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
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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.