Summary
The wife of Bath's Tale is about a women who likes to make sexual jokes and enjoys sexual things. She's been married five times, all to different men. This is very usual because at the time this story was made it was basically forbidden to be a women and marry several times and have more than one sexual partner. The wife of bath is a women who thought more like people do in today's society rather than they did in the past. She thinks that women should be treated equal to a man and not less than. The prologue of the Wife of Bath begins with her telling her beliefs and how she feels like women shouldn't have to live to please a man. She then goes into explained that she doesn't feel like she needs to take orders from anyone and likes to tell her opinion, even though women aren't supposed to do those things in that time period. In the actual Wife of Bath's Tale there's a story about a knight who has to go to the queen for a punishment. The queen tells the knight that he has 12 months and a day to find out what a women desires most. If the knight doesn't come back with the answer then he will be put to death. In the knights quest he asks several women what makes them the most happy, however he doesn't get his answer until the last day of the time given. He meets a maiden in the woods and she tells him that what women most want is sovereignty. Once he finds out he tells the queen and the maiden demands that he marries her since she saved his life. At the end of the tale, they end up getting married. This entire tale is about the idea of sovereignty and how women should be able to do what they want, when they want.
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Verbal IronyIn the Wife Of Bath's Tale she say's she's an expert at being a wife, but she's been married five times. This is ironic because if you were an expert as a wife, do you think you would be married 5 times?
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Situational IronyAn example of situational irony in the Wife Of Bath's Tale is when the knights on his quest to find out what makes women most happy and on his trip he disrespects a women. It's Ironic because if you were trying to find what made women most happy, why would you disrespect one on the way?
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Dramatic IronyAn example of dramatic irony would be when the knight mets the maiden in the woods and says "Give me your hand and swear to do whatever I shall next require of you." This is ironic because the reader can guess that she's going to ask something big of him and she tells him to make her his wife.
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