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Morality - Coggle Diagram
Morality
Medieval ideas about how men and women should behave are subverted
'Thanne have I gete of yow maistrie,'
- the use of the word 'maistrie,' is consistent with Chaucer's exploration of female independence and sovereignty
Use of imperatives also emphasises the wife's power over her husband.
'Kys me,' 'Choose now,'
'Unnethe myghte they the statut holde in which they were bounden to me,'
Relates to St Paul's ideas about marriage debt - where this usually is contrived against the woman (as biased by the prevelance of the patriarchy in medieval society), the Wife uses this against her husband. She has an unusually strong sexual appetite for a woman.
'How pitously a nyght I made hem swykne,'
How pitifully at night I made them work!
'I governed hem so wel after my lawe,'
Redefining religious teachings
The wife uses biblical references to justify her views about marriage and virginity
'and Jhesu Crist us sende housbondes meeke, yonge, and fressh abedde,'
'and eek I praye Jhesu shorte hir lyves that noght wol be governed by hir wyves;'
Final lines of the tale are an appeal to the ultimate religious authority, Jesus, who she commands to ensure women have sovereignty and independence from their husbands
'a wys womman wol sette hire evere in oon,'
directly challenging Theophrastus '
a wise man should not marry' -
as he believes it hinders philosophical development
Moral ambiguity between her and her husbands
The wife considers a good husband to be
'riche and olde,'
and submissive to her
The wife takes advantage of her husbands '
a wys wyf, is that she kan hir good,' 'shal beren hym on hond the cow is wood,' -
a wise wife if she knows her own good will convince her husband that the chough is mad.
The symbolism of choughs is related to Jackdaws, who were supposed to signal wives' infidelities to their husbands
the wife's behaviour towards her husbands is morally ambiguous as she manipulates them and exploits their vunerability
'sir olde kaynard, is this thyn array? why is my neighboures wyf so gay?'
'what dostow at my neighebores house? is she so fair? artow so amorous?'
repetition of rhetorical questions perpetuates Chaucer's presentation of the wife as manipulative
lines 1219–1264
-Lines given are in bold and lines chosen are in italics-