Summary
Summary The Wife of Bath: Language Devices
- Module
- Unit 3 - Poetry (9ET0)
- Institution
- PEARSON (PEARSON)
The Wife of Bath: Language Devices
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LanguageApostrophe- Reference to the dead, absent, or inanimate. – ‘O God.’
Anaphora- Repetition at the beginning of each line. Example: ‘Thou seist’ section (line
255ish)
Vocative Case- Speaking directly to someone. She’s directly address the other pilgrims,
that’s her audience.
Rubaiyat rhyme- aaba rhyme scheme, which is lyrical, almost like a children’s song. Line
430 ‘keep’ ‘sheep’ ‘cheke’ and ‘meke.’
Unreliable Narrator- the audience is called to second-guess what the Wife of Bath says as
she contradicts herself. There’s also layers of narrative taking place, as it’s difficult to tell if
Chaucer endorses the Wife’s views and how far he is using her to represent views that are his
own.
Reported Speech- She quotes the words of her husbands, but as she’s unreliable as a
narrator, after the ‘thou sayest’ section it’s revealed that her husbands never said any of it.
Legal language- From her discussion of the sinfulness (or lack thereof) and of serial
marriage comes a highly legalistic vocabulary consistent with her preoccupation at this
moment with the Church's laws. Example- "for to been a wyf he yaf me leve / Of
indulgence." A "leave of indulgence" is a highly legalistic term for "permission."
Financial language- This is possibly indicative of how she sees marriage was a dispassionate
transaction, as well as how she can adapt her speech depending on who she’s making the
argument to. Example: when she refers to sex as paying a debt, declaring "An housbonde I
wol have, I wol not lette, / Which shal be both my dettour and my thrall" (160-161). This
allusion isn’t because she’s uncomfortable talking about sex, which we know through the use
of vulgar terms like "queynte" and "quoniam" to refer to the genitals instead of the subtle
"instrument" that appears in her argumentative mode.
Domestic language- Some people think that the use of the domestic sphere as a point of
reference is Chaucer attempting to make the Wife of Bath more believable as a woman
during the Prologue, since women were the ones responsible for setting up and maintaining a
household during the middle ages. Example: the Wife compares virgins to "breed of pured
whete-seed, / And late us wyves hoten barly breed" (149-150).
Allusion – In the tale, King Midas Ovid’s Metamorphoses compared his situation of to the
ability to women to keep secrets. The implication is that women can’t keep secrets as the wife
in that tale whispered her secret to the water. There’s also the allusion to King Arthur, a
legendary British leader that led the defense against Saxon of Britain.
Simile – This create a figurative comparison, and the reader is forced to think about how
those two separate objects are similar. Example: “And al day after hidde him as an oule;” He
hid like an owl all day long.
Hyperbole- Demonstrates the Wife’s dramatic nature. Example: “A thousand tyme a-rewe he
gan hir kisse. He showered her with a thousand kisses”
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