Weeks 4 - 6
Please use the comments section below for your answers.
1. Cite some variations in the Loathly Lady fabula across the three tales in your Reader. Focus on the conditions by which the lady is either beautiful or ugly, and the actions of the knight/king/"hero"...
2. The Wife of Bath's Tale is considered by some critics to indicate that Chaucer may have been a feminist. Why might they believe this? Do you agree? Remember to cite evidence from the text or some other source.
3.Hahn's essay (see critical reader)on The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelleidentifies the motif of the loathly lady, but arguesit has a different purpose than asserting the feminine. What does he think the function of the story is?
4. In the context of Elizabethan and Jacobean sonnets, how can we define "conceits"?
5. Discuss what you think is the most striking or outrageous example.
6. What does Revard (1997) suggest about the relationship between language, sex, power and transgression in the English Renaissance?
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ReplyDeleteQuestion 4: In the context of Elizabethan and Jacobean sonnets, how can we define "conceits"?
ReplyDelete“Conceits” can be defined as a form of technique used in poems, where comparisons – often far-fetched and of very dissimilar things – run throughout the poem. Edmund Spenser’s comparison of love with ice, and the desire of love with fire in ‘Ice and Fire’ is an example of this technique. These comparisons focus more on ingenuity than justness (Parker, 1982). Parker (1982) adds that “a comparison becomes a conceit when we are made to concede likeness while being strongly conscious of unlikeness” (p. xxii).
Reference:
Parker, A. A. (1982). " Concept" and" Conceit": An Aspect of Comparative Literary History. The Modern Language Review, 77(4), xxi-xxxv.
1. Cite some variations in the Loathly Lady fabula across the three tales in your Reader. Focus on the conditions by which the lady is either beautiful or ugly, and the actions of the knight/king/"hero"...
ReplyDelete“Fabula”, also known as “motif”, is a general term for a narrative unit that occurs often (Garry & El-Shamy, 2005). “Loathly Lady” is a recurrent theme in folk literature, featuring a misshapen woman cursed with hideous looks, who magically transforms into a beautiful lady when a man promises sovereignty to her (Caldwell, 2007). The three tales in discussion – The Wife of Bath’s Tale; The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle; and King Henry – are three representations of this loathly lady motif. While these tales have applied the same motif, the authors have injected their unique expressions to distinguish the tales.
Variances can be observed in how the loathly lady is presented. In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, the loathly lady is simply described as an old (line 1001), ugly creature no man can imagine (line 1000; 1046). In contrast, the author of The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle had a lengthy description of Ragnelle’s loathliness, expressively illustrated as having a curved back, broad shoulders, heavy breasts, unkempt hair, a long and thick neck, blemished face covered in snot, cheeks as broad as women’s hips, dull and large eyes, and a large and wide mouth bearing yellow teeth that hung out of her lips (Hahn, 1995). In the ballad, King Henry, the loathly lady is described as a frightening grisly ghost, with teeth like “tether stakes”, and nose like “club or mell”; she is also portrayed as barbaric in the way she eats (“She’s eaten up both skin and bone, left nothing but hide and hair”), demanding in the way she asks for things (“More meat you give to me”; “bring them here to me”; “Some drink you give to me”; “A bed you’ll make for me”), and lusty (“take off your clothes now King Henry and lie down by my side”).
Several notable variances can be observed in the men who were put in vulnerable positions and subjected to the sovereignty of the loathly lady, particularly in character traits and their encounters with the loathly lady.
DeleteIn The Wife of Bath’s Tale, the man in question is a young lusty knight (line 883) who raped a beautiful young maiden (line 888). Instead of a death sentence, the knight was suppressed under the power of the queen, tasked to answer the riddle to what women want most in the world, and will only lose his head if he cannot find the answer. His first encounter with the loathly lady was in the forest, whom he sought help from. In return for her help, he was forced to pledge himself to her. The knight committed a hideous crime, thus having to suffer the consequence of marrying a loathly lady. She offers the miserable knight a choice: to have her ugly but loyal, or beautiful but unfaithful. As soon as the knight replies with the answer a woman desires most – the authority to choose for herself – she transforms into a beautiful and faithful woman.
In The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, the king was in the mercy of Sir Gromer Somer whom he had caused grievance to. To save his own life, the king has to provide Sir Gromer Somer with the answer to what women want. The loathly lady, who could offer the answer, requested for one of his knight’s hand in marriage in return. The king’s loyal knight, sir Gawain, exhibited no resistance in marrying the loathly lady despite the king’s warning of her foulness. Prioritising the King’s reputation over his own happiness, Sir Gawain disregards her repulsive appearance and turns to kiss her, who then transforms into a beautiful lady. She offers the knight a choice of having her beautiful by night or day –his refusal to make the decision grants her sovereignty, which broke the spell her wicked stepmother had cast, and she remains beautiful both day and night.
In King Henry, the king, who has committed neither rape nor fallacy, was subjected to the lust and dominance of the loathly lady. He was merely unfortunate, trapped in a hall where the loathly lady resides. Not given a choice, he abided by her commands and slept with her, which resulted in the transformation of the hideous monster into a beautiful lady overnight.
References:
Caldwell, E. M. (2007). The Heroism of Heurodis: Self-Mutilation and Restoration in Sir Orfeo. Papers on Language and Literature, 43(3), 291.
Garry, J., & El-Shamy, H. (2005). Archetypes and motifs in folklore and literature. ME Sharpe.
Hahn, T. (Ed.). (1995). The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle.In Sir Gawain: Eleven Romances and Tales. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications
The only story I read was the wife of baths and not the other two. So it was interesting to see how the description of the loathly lady was more detailed in the other two texts.
DeleteIt's also interesting that though the stories portray a "loathly lady" who somehow manages to trap the men they meet. All three of the loathly ladies turn 'beautiful' towards the end of the story. It kind of formed an expectation, don't you think, for the readers when reading these texts. You know that the loathly lady will turn beautiful. But then there was Shrek that broke that expectation of the loathly lady becoming beautiful with princes Fiona choosing to stay an ogre.
I don't particularly know what question this post lies between but most of it answers to Question 2
ReplyDeleteIt is discussed that during the era, The Wife of Bath’s Tale was written, it was written for humor. Purpose supposedly being to deracinate Irish beliefs and tradition: that woman should be the ‘upper-hand’ in a household. That is basically why in the Irish variation, the writer, Gower focuses on sovereignty the “central theme” of Irish Tale’s (Carter, n.d.). In the reading provided, “Coupling the Beastly Bride and the Hunter Hunted: What Lies Behind Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale” by Susan Carter states: “Chaucer is more interested in the gender role destabilization of the vehicle, the allegorical motif” than the “kingship” presented in most Loathly Lady Tales (p.81, para 2). He plays with the theme with, “slippage, ambivalence and reversal of gender roles” (p. 82, para 2 cont.). All three versions of the Loathly Lady involves the “cultural ideas about political power contestation, in which gender roles are loosened, dissolved, and resolved”. Chaucer sticks with the genre of the Loathly Lady, by involving a “forest side” although adding his own little humor to the “gender destabilizing” as the beliefs of a Christian in the era was purely that men had an ‘upper-hand’. “Chaucer’s external spaces signal the motifs tradition, while his court shows his craft in giving the Wife subjectivity.”
At the end of the Tale Chaucer basically mocks the wives in a subtle way:
“And thus they live unto their lives’ end
In perfect joy; and Jesus Christ us send
Husband’s meek, young and vigorous in bed,
And also I pray Jesus shorten their lives
That will not be governed by their wives;
And old and angry misers is spending,
God send them soon the very pestilence!”
To my understanding I sense a slight feeling that Chaucer is morally using the stereotype of a ‘slut’ or a ‘whore’ for the women. Basically praying to Jesus Christ to keep sending young men to Earth so the wives can use them in bed and then kill them for someone else because back in the day there was no such thing as a divorce.
CITATION:
DeleteCarter, S. (n.d.). Coupling the beastly bride and the hunter hunted: what lies behind chaucer's wife of bath's tale. Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/bbcswebdav/pid-4027427-dt-content-rid-6652318_4/institution/Papers/ENGL600/Publish/Desire_Critical%20Reader_2014.pdf
Week 4 - 6: The Sonnets
ReplyDeleteConceit as described by the New English dictionary is a “fanciful, ingenious or witty notion or expression; now applied disparagingly to a stained or far-fetched turn of thought, figure etc., and affectation of though or style” (Alden, 1971). In other words, a metaphor that compares two very unlike things in a surprising and clever way. They can be extended metaphors that dominate an entire passage or poem (Shmoop.com).
Some examples of conceit can be seen Shakespeare’s sonnet (XVIII & CXXX) where he is comparing his beloved to a summers day “Shall I compare thee to a summer day”( line 1). “But thy eternal summer shall not fade” (Line 9) is another use of conceit in the poem when Shakespeare is claiming that his love for his beloved shall never die.
Another poem, Edmund Spencers ‘Fire and Ice’ sonnet. Which uses forms of conceit to portray his message. I found this an outstanding form of conceit as the poet portrayed his whole emotion in metaphor. Fire and ice tells of a man and his desire and for a woman who does not reciprocate to it. “My love is like to ice, and I to fire; How come it then this her cold so great. Is no dissolved through my so hot desire” (Lines 1,2,3). Here the poet is saying that his desire for her is as hot as “fire”. Though, she is “cold” towards him, not responding to him. The poet continues by stating “That fire, which all things melt, should harden ice… And ice, which is congeal’d with senseless cold” (Lines 10,11). Here he is saying that his “fire” (love) makes his beloved grow colder towards him. Even so he can’t help but love his beloved more. “Such is the power of love in gentle mind. That is can alter the course of kind” (Lines 13,14). I interpreted this conceit as love having the power to change the course of mankind. It can change a person’s outlook on life, their goals, and ambitions.
The most outrageous example of conceit from the texts we have studies would have to be John Dunne’s “The Flea”. In the poem, a flea has bitten a man and his lover and now their blood has mixed and mingled which the man claims to not be a “sinne, nor losse of maiden head” (line 6). The flea has joined them in a way that “alas, is more than wee would doe” (line9). He’s referring to sex. The underlying conceit of this poem is that the women does not want to make love with the man. Where the man in a very clever way is claiming that the flea has bitten them both and their blood has indirectly mixed so there is no sin in committing the act of sex. And that in doing so she would not be losing any honour. Which is so bizarre. To claim that a flea bite means having sex is acceptable now and not a sin. However, The use of conceit in this poem was interesting and grabs your attention.
Reference:
Alden, R. (1917). The Lyrical Conceit of the Elizabethans. Studies in Philology, 14(2), 129-152. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4171705
http://www.shmoop.com/literature-glossary/conceit.html
Thanks for highlighting that! I agree that the use of conceit in "The Flea" is attention-grabbing. Who would have thought of associating flea bites with sex?
DeleteRight? pretty unexpected thing to be comparing sex to haha
DeleteQ2.
ReplyDeleteGeoffrey Chaucer’s portrayal of women in his “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” has led to fierce debate over whether or not he is a feminist. Much focus is put upon the character of Alisoun who is portrayed as an independent woman in a patriarchal time. Critics are divided over the issue with many believing that his portrayal of women was an early form of feminism, and Chaucer wanted to empower women, while others feel that Chaucer was not a feminist and Alisoun is used as merely another character in a story with lots of focus put upon her sexuality.
Smith (2014) states “Evidence suggests Chaucer seems to have had an ulterior motive by creating such a character as to show an alternative view of women during a patriarchal time. In the case of Alisoun, the Wife of Bath, Chaucer did not create her as a mere form of entertainment, but a subtle, yet far reaching tool to help women be seen as something more than property.” This opinion is one that many share as a view on the way Alisoun is portrayed by Chaucer. Those who have this view believe he is a feminist because of this portrayal of women.
Critics however view Alisoun as being against feminist beliefs particularly because she uses sex to manipulate men. ‘The Historical Perception of The Wife of Bath’s Tale’ (n.d) noted that, “she definatley [sic] stands for sexual freedom.” However the same source also states that “Giving in to the man’s desire goes against feministic beliefs”. This critic also highlights that Chaucer emphasises Alisoun’s sex life and in their opinion, “Chaucer is imposing a sexist view on Alisoun”.
Through all these opinions and criticisms of ‘The Wife of Bath’s Tale’ it is hard to determine exactly if Chaucer was a feminist or not. Perhaps it is unfair to judge Chaucer because of the era he was from and as Carosone (n.d.) notes “the feminist era, which began in the 1970’s, is when critics view Chaucer as a male writer who did not understand women very well, portraying them in a negative way, and who was unable to rise above the anti feminism of his age”
Vaněčková (2007) states “Probably the only thing about Wife of Bath’s Tale on which the critics agree is that its narrative voice and choice of topic is distinctly feminine, the world of her tale is inhabited by women with occasional obedient men”.
Personally I view Alisoun as a character merely used in a story to drive it in a unique direction, a direction uncommon at the time of “Wife of Bath’s Tale” being published. I am unsure of the extend in which Chaucer intended to use Alisoun as a feminist though as I do not know whether he believed in the empowerment of women or just wanted to write a story from a unique perspective.
References:
Carosone, M. (n.d.). Geoffrey Chaucer: Feminist Or Not? Retrieved June 03, 2017, from http://www.academia.edu/657084/Geoffrey_Chaucer_Feminist_Or_Not
The Historical Perception of The Wife of Bath. (n.d.). Retrieved June 03, 2017, from http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projf983a/charac.htm
Tiffany J. Smith. The Matriarch of Bath – Chaucer’s Feminist Insights. International Journal of Literature and Arts.
Vol. 2, No. 3, 2014, pp. 76-83. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20140203.14
Vaněčková, V. (2007). Women in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales: Woman as a Narrator, Woman in the Narrative (Master's thesis, Masaryk University, 2007) (p. 34). Brno: Masaryk University.
The sources you shared provided great insights! Thank you! I'd also like to add that during the period in which “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” was written, the concept of "feminism" has not existed yet -hence it is hard to argue if Chaucer had a feminist approach to the tale.
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