The Wife of Bath Analysis

The Wife of Bath Analysis Chaucer is generally considered as the father of English poetry; looking specifically at The Canterbury Tales we can see that Chaucer attempted to portray a depiction of society as he knew it. It is also evident that he attempted to provide his own commentary on his society. Chaucer distances himself from the comments made in The Canterbury Tales as he tells his audience Blameth nat me (Chaucer, 2006, line 73) if they are to take offense from what the Miller says as it is not Chaucer, himself, saying it, he simply has too repeat what was said. This is a very clever technique that Chaucer uses so that he cant be faced with controversy or come under attack from any one as he has only repeated this tale. Chaucer would have had to ensure that his work did not offend those in the church, seeing as the church was the only place where literature was preserved. However Chaucer still attacks society, and the greed of the church amongst other social issues, by not personally saying it, he skilfully distances himself from the issues he highlights in this tales. Chaucer also manages to tactfully deal with these issues, resulting in highly enjoyable tale, which offers a social commentary on a society faced with corruption and hypocrisy. The Canterbury Tales was written in a time where an audible, social reading of literature (Ford, 1976, p86) was preferred, this is possibly because of the influence that the church had on Medieval Literature. One of the main reasons for this may be due to the church, as they supplied the only form of education, everyone at church would have been listened to preachers, and as preaching itself had throughout the Middle Ages a great influence on other literature of all sorts (Ford, 1976, p85) it is not unreasonable to assume that this is why oral forms of literature were preferred in the medieval period. The Canterbury Tales were written as thought hey were being spoken aloud, so they fit in well with this medieval trend. The language and diction used in both The Millers Tale and The Wife of Bath conforms to a plain, low style (King, 2000, p47). Chaucers dominant sentence structure is paratactic (King, 2000, p47); with a rhyme scheme consisting of couplets of iambic pentameters (King, 2 000, p47). The purpose of Chaucers use of language, allows both tales to be easily read aloud for a group of people, rather than just read alone. Aware of his language choices, Chaucer will have also been attempting to make the background story to The Canterbury Tales seem authentic. The narrator is telling these stories on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, so as we read the tales to ourselves we can get a sense of the pilgrimage, and the way these tales would have been told. Chaucer uses The Canterbury Tales as a social commentary. Through the general prologue we can see how he feels about whole sections of society by making individuals represent whole groups of medieval life (Bunting, 2003, p6). These representations slowly begin to build up an entire view of Chaucers life in the medieval period. The Canterbury Tales is famous for upsetting the social hierarchy. Despite the conventions, after the Knights tale is told at the very beginning the rest of the tales are not told in order of those with the higher social standing, as would be conventionally expected. Certain characters interrupt, pushing their tales over others, making The Canterbury Tale humorous as it does not follow the conventional order as som bettre man shal telle us first another (Chaucer, 2006, Line 21). Chaucer also satirises the medieval idea of romance, through the tales, he satirises courtly love, and how it is portrayed as being the ideal way to create a romance. The Millers Tale, in particular, satirises this concept as it is a parody romance (King, 2000, p73). This medieval concept is often found ridiculed in these tales. In the Wife of Bath she admits that I have wedded five! (Chaucer, 1995, line 44), if this had been a courtly love, surely it would have lasted and the Wife of Bath would not have been able to marry again, out of love for her previous husband. Absolon in the Millers Tale attempts to woo Alison using techniques expected of a courtly lover, however he fails to impress Alison and his efforts go unrecognised. Chaucer uses the literary convention of courtly love with Absolon to demonstrate just how ridiculous the efforts of the courtly lover can be, and how ridiculous it can be presented in literature. Chaucer is able to express some views on religion in the tales, even though he would have had to ensure that this was not a deliberate or obvious attack on the church. In the Millers Tale Absolon is satirised as the parish clerk (Chaucer, 2006, line 204) as That of no wyf took he noon offrynage (Chaucer, 2006, line 242). Chaucer also suggests that when Alison goes to church it is much more of a social outing, rather than a religious event. In the Wife of Bath the satire is directed at the sex obsessed and guilt-ridded attitudes of medieval christianity (Whittock, 1968, p121). The main social issue that Chaucer is seen to satirise in both these tales is the idea that women are repressed. Chaucer seemed able to perceive the genius and subtlety of the female mind in making the best of their situation in life, while still allowing the men to think they were in control (Bunting, 2003, p5). This is perhaps best envisioned in The Wife of Baths Prologue. She mentions her having had wedded five! (Chaucer, 1995, line 44). However she is able to defend this position that she is in as God says that to be wedded is no sinne (Chaucer, 1995, line 51), she also asks when God commanded he virgintee? (Chaucer, 1995, line 62). She speaks out against the church and what they are saying in the medieval period, where women were given two stereotypes, either compared to the treacherous Eve, or had to live up to the standards of the Virgin Mary with her being both a virgin and a mother this was an impossible role model for women to achieve. The Wife of Bath is unashamedly a larger than life character designed to squash the constraints that medieval Christianity have placed upon women. She is a matriarchal figure who has declared war on mankind (Whittock, 1968, p119) Chaucer uses the Wife of Bath to defend womankind. Chaucer looks at the relationship between the two sexes, as it is often perceived that women were always the weaker of the two, due to all the constraints put upon them from the Medieval church. However Chaucer seems to argue that not only do they not deserve this, but that women are cleverly able to control men, by subtlety manipulating them, however they exist in a masculine world so self-satisfied, or stupid to realise it (Bunting, 2003, p45). The Wife of Baths tale itself sees an important moral message, Chaucer cleverly places behind the shadow of the Wife of Bath. Faced with the issue of what women desire, the Knight concludes that: Wommen desiren have sovereynetee As wel over hir housbond as hir love, And for to been in maistrie hym above. (Chaucer, 1995, lines 1038-1041) The moral hides not behind the fact that women desire equality, the tale condemns the desire for mastery (Whittock, 1968, p126). When the Knight allows the woman to be independent and gives her the choice to be with him, he does not force his will upon her, resulting in an ideal relationship between the two. Chaucer demonstrates that possessing a woman can bring no man joy, out of fear that they will end up a cokewold (Chaucer, 1995, line 1214). When the woman chooses the Knight Chaucer shows that woman should have the right to choose their husband too, and more importantly he shows that when this happens this creates the best marriage. With the Wifes constant use of plural, it dissolves her individual situation into a general female experience (Saunders, 2001, p292) emphasising that this is a universal problem for all women in the medieval period. In the Millers Tale Alison manages to secure a victory at the end, being the only character not punished for her actions. She is able to manipulate Nicholas into thinking that she was doing him a favour by sleeping with him, however it is obvious throughout the tale that it is mutually beneficial for both of them. She manages to escape her narwe (Chaucer, 2006, line 116) cage (Chaucer, 2006, line 116). Both the Wife of Bath and Alison demonstrate that Chaucer definitely approved of women being treated as equal to men, allowing them to choose their own destiny, he also held them in high regard for their ability to overcome the fact that they were used as a commodity by men by quietly controlling small issues, eventually helping their own trapped and difficult situation. However it can be argued that although the Wife of Bath was a vehicle for satirising male attitude (Whittock, 1968, p121), but also to satirise female attitudes (Whittock, 1968, p121). She is a grotesque personification of all the undesirable traits found in women. While she argues that God has never forbidden marriage, and that she is actually doing a good thing by following her owene juggement (Chaucer, 1995, line 68), she then contradicts her arguments for marrying five times by wondering why members maad of generacion (Chaucer, 1995, line 116) were made and argues that they were nat maad for noght (Chaucer, 1995, line 118). This statement suggests that she marries for sex and lustful thoughts, not for the ideal love. The Wife of Bath is every anti feminists dream come true (Cooper, 1983, p76). It is argued that Chaucer uses the Wife of Bath to make these arguments against the church and male dominance as she is sexually predatory, extravagantly dressed, ultra sensitive to social positions and worst of all irresistible attractive (Cooper, 1983, p76). She is over indulgent, and it is often suggested that she has married her husbands for reasons other than love, something both the church and society frowned upon, regardless of gender. Alison is described by Chaucer using a heavy amount of animal imagery, suggesting that she is in fact an animal, with uninhibited desires and wild attitudes. She is also described with a high undertone of sexuality, again suggesting her unmanageable sexuality. This is not a woman who would be expected to dispute the controlling power men hold over them; although neither does the Wife of Bath, yet in both Tales women secure a victory, albeit a small one, against the men in their lives. Suggesting that Chaucer is not only trying to give women a disguised victory, but shows that in every undesirable position you find yourself in there will always be a small victory to be had. Chaucer is viewed as inheritor of a great tradition as well as the inventor of a new one (Saunders, 2001, p5) he stuck to particular conventions of the medieval period, and is work is characteristically medieval. He is also held in high regard as he invents a whole new way of tackling many of the medieval literary and social issues that he did not agree with in this social commentary. Chaucer has contributed highly to literary criticism as he produced a prose narrative that is clearly medieval in its style and delivery, however its message provides a strong moral message, and a social commentary on a society that without literature we would not know how society worked and what people thought about it without Chaucers work providing a social commentary and literary criticism.

Assignment 2: Moments of Truth: Global Executives Talk About the Challenges That Shaped Them as Leaders

Assignment 2: Moments of truth: Global Executives talk about the challenges that shaped them as leaders Looking at the many issues that top level managers had to endure in ensuring that their perspective organization is successful is a very important factor in determining how effective they would be as leaders and decision makers. Below are issues that helped to shape them as leaders and helped them to overcome challenges faced within their various organizations. Humility: The issue of humility is that when a person is in a leadership position he/she has to have the ability to look at things in their own perspective and be about to accept the suggestions, ideas, proposals from other people. Listening to your subordinates as well as your peers is a important factor in humility, by realizing that you as a leader work for the company and its people. Energy: If the leader in an organization does not have the energy or the drive for the success of the organization, the employees will not have the energy or drive for the success of the organization. Leaders have to lead from the front by introducing innovative ideas to keep the company fresh and vibrant. This will help to infuse the employees with the same concepts and keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive. Intuition: Many time when you want to take the organization into a new era of growth, this may be through an idea that you know in your gut will be a good move for the company. Sometimes as leaders you may not get the support from your endeavor from many areas of your organization, but as a leader you should take in the advice of your peers and subordinates and make informed decisions on what you should do. In many cases you may feel that no matter what this idea will be best course of action for your organization and despite all advice to the contrary you proceed on with your idea. Listening is very important in leadership as it allows you to understand the information that is given to you and allows you to make informed decisions on what it is you want to accomplish. Vision: Leaders have to have vision in order to be different from the rest and create new business functions within the organization. If you as a leader don’t have a vision for your particular field, you won't be able to create the innovation that will allow for future growth in the company. Looking at the market and seeing what it is lacking and building upon existing or creating new functions to fill that gap is important to future growth. Perspective: Having the vision to look ahead and anticipate what's coming is very important to growth and change of an organization. As the situation changes in the world around the organization, so should the organization. Leaders have to understand the environment in which they live in to full understand the global environment. If you are a leader that doesn't see the world as an ever changing entity then you and your organization are destined to fail. The global marketplace is constantly changing so you may not have the same employees conducting the same functions as in the past. Leaders have to understand this to continually move their companies forward. Passion: Leaders have to have passion about what they are doing. The introduction of new products and business functions are important to organizations. If the leaders are not passionate about what he/she is doing then the project is doomed to fail. Even as many of your peers in the industry feel that it is a waste of time, you should have the passion to see it through. Conviction: CEOs of organizations often have to make the tough decisions and many times these decisions are not received well by other members of the organization. What these CEOs have to do is look at what their long term goals are for the organization and have the conviction to see it through. Many times they have to do this despite everything that is being suggested by members of his/her team and declining profit margins of the company. Seeing it through to the end is a very important trait for a leader, as it shows other members in the organization that their leaders has the foresight and drive to see a project through to the end. Learning: Everyone has the ability to learn and it doesn’t stop once you are the leader of an organization. Leaders must be able to learn from the various mistakes that they make and make the organization stronger for it. The ability to listen to your subordinates and peers will help to make a well rounded leader that is capable of leading teams to be very successful. Leaders must take all the lessons that they learn to heart and apply those lessons to help create change or help to improve the existing functions of teams and organizations alike.

Personal experience with children from divorced families Essay

Two years ago, I was teaching young Korean children ages 8 to 11. Before I started teaching, I was briefly explained about the behaviour of several children by their tutors. A couple of them were from divorced families. I had a difficulty in handling one particular child called J, who was 11 years old at that time. According to his tutor, his parents were divorced recently and as a result, he enrolled in this school. I did not know the reason of his parents’ divorce but his mother was diagnosed with cancer. The tutor was the custodial parent of J. My first impression on J in class was that he was very loud and also it became a routine for him not to do his homework and turn up late in class. He became aggressive and tried to embarrass me by making ridiculous comments when scolded about his behaviour. On one occasion, J had a fight with another boy in class. J actually stabbed this boy with a pencil during break time. Although it was a minor injury, parents of both boys had to be called in and J’s tutor tried to make both boys talk about why it happened. But they did not say a word. Since J’s mother was sick, his grandmother came instead, apologizing for her grandson’s action. Nonetheless, explanation of J’s grandmother helped me to understand his behaviour. J became difficult to control since his parents’ divorce. He was furious with the fact that his father left his sick mother for another woman. His grade from previous school was average but with the change of family environment, he was achieving lower grade. However, considering he was fairly new to the school, he seemed to socialize with other boys easily and seemed to lead them as well. I have also noticed that when he was not being loud or seeking attention in my class, he would sit absent-minded and continuously shake his leg. Besides being aggressive he was probably feeling insecure as well. In the period immediately following the divorce, J’s mother’s ability to be a good parent probably declined and became more inconsistent in disciplining her son due to her illness. J’s reaction towards his parent’s divorce is all mentioned in past studies by Anthony (1974), Hoyt et al. (1990), Kurdekrikberg (1987), Liner (1976), Wickman (1987) where action-out behaviour was most apparent in his behaviour when he had stabbed a boy with a pencil and his reaction also showed that he was very aggressive, as Lee (1993) suggested that children of divorce can become aggressive. J’s behaviour of making comments in class also shares Hyatt (1999)’s findings of making irrelevant comments in class. J had also developed anger towards his father because he had left his mother when she was sick and Kurdekriberg (1987) mentioned that some children may develop wrath towards one parent after divorce. As illustrated in Lee (1993), Kurdekriberg (1987) and Weitzman (1985)’s study, J’s academic grade declined and exhibited withdrawing behaviour (1976) such as shaking his leg in class. He was also spotted lost in thoughts in class sitting completely absent-minded and this can refer to what Liner (1976) called disorganized behaviour that J probably wanted to escape from this painful reality of his. Case study 2 Another child called B, age 10, in my class, also experienced parents divorce. I got to know B’s background through a homework I assigned in class. Unlike J, her parents were divorced when B had just turned 5 and at that time, none of her parents were willing to look after her. Therefore she was left under the care of her grandparents in her mother’s side for a few years. And then, she joined her mother at the age of 9 who was by then re-married and had children of their own. Being with her mother’s also meant moving to another school, hence everything was new to her. Despite the change of the environment, she seemed to have adjusted herself well in school life. She had her own circle of friends and she was also active and lively during class and there was not much change in her school grade. I also noticed her suck fingers during class. One day, I assigned the whole class to write about their parents because it was soon to be Parents’ Day in Korea. Surprisingly, B did not do her home. To be exact, she actually refused to do it because she said there was nothing to talk about and as she was saying this, she was almost in tears. Then she explained her family background and she was ashamed of it. She mentioned that her mother and stepfather hardly gave her any affection and treated her as a burden, hence in order to avoid them, B spent most of her time in her room when she was home. For B, the school was some kind of a safe zone and because of her positive attitude in class, I never thought that she was unhappy at home. In my opinion, B was putting all her energy into school life to forget about troubles at home. It was obvious that B had the most difficulty in adapting to step-parenting and remarriage and what made it worse was that she hardly knew her mother either. So confronting her mother and step father was a great distress for B.

The Effects Of Standardized Cognitive Tests On Student...

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