10/27 Cantebury Tales #9A

Wife of Bath
According to Chaucer's story The Wife of Bath in Canterbury Tales, all women desire only one thing. That is to hold control over men. Besides the narrator outright telling us that is what women hold most important, this desire is illuminated in many of other aspects of the story. First, we see this when king is about to condemn the knight at the beginning of the story, the queen requests that she be in charge is of trial and sentencing. She wanted to be in control. A more obvious example of this is when the old woman gives the knight between having an ugly, but faithful wife or a beautiful, but disloyal wife. Instead of choosing for himself, the knight lets the old woman decided, leaving her in power completely over the situation. By yielding and letting the old woman have the choice, the old woman is happy because she was given power over her husband. Personally, I think it is true that many women want to have control over others and in situations. Even the Bible says that this is something that women everywhere have to continue to struggle with. However, to say that it is the foremost desire of all women to hold power over others is not true. When stereotyping an entire gender that way, it can never be completely true.

Pardoner's Tale
The Pardoner's Tale is basically a list of rules (with support and examples) of do's and don'ts that people need to heed to. These includes things like don't gamble, don't be gluttonous, don't get drunk, and don't swear on Christ's body. The story given among this list is an example of what could result from doing this things, death. This says a lot about Medieval religion and the Catholic church. For those who choose sinful ways, it's death. For those who choose wise ways, it's life. The Pardoner character, from the little we read of his purpose and actions, is a priestly type figure. By going to him with our sins, he can help pardon us of our past sins and move on to a happy future. This makes me think of the Catholic church, because it is concerned with actions. While actions are most certainly very important, the way to get redemption is through confession (an action). This doesn't deal where the core of the sin lay, in the person's heart.