Are there many ways that themes and symbols can be shown in stories? GeoffreyChaucer uses many different themes, symbols and styles in writing all of talesin The Canterbury Tales. By using these things, Geoffrey utilizes severalspecific symbols to illustrate various central themes. The characters in thetales make the same mistakes that ordinary people would make, and they receivethe same or even worse consequences. One message that is portrayed is greed canmake people to evil actions. An example of this is in “The Pardoner’sTale,” when the three friends wind up killing each other because of theirgreed for the money.
The second message that is displayed is that one should becareful when meeting strangers and to be cautious of the sincerity of falseflattery from those that one does not know. For example, in “The Nun’sPriest’s Tale,” Chanticleer falls for false flattery from Sir Russell Fox,but then he gets even with him when he to uses it to trick Sir Russell Fox. Thethird and last message that is shown is that reformation in a person can occurbecause of some type of punishment. This theme occurs in ” The Wife ofBath,” in that the lady that the knight has to marry is old and ugly, butbecause of this punishment of having to marry her, he eventually starts to likeher. As shown with the three friends in “The Pardoner’s Tale”, greedstabs friends in the back and deceives them into doing wrong.
There are twooccasions in which the three friends plot against each other so one may receivemore money than the others may. First of all, the three friends find acollection of gold coins under a tree, which they decide should be theirs andthey choose to try to take it. They realize that they can not take the coinsduring the day because people will assume they are robbers. After figuring out aplan, one friend goes to town to get supplies for the others. While he is gonethe two other friends talk and plot actions to occur when he returns. The onefriend says to the other, ” You see that we are two, And two are twice aspowerful as one. Now look; when he comes back, get up in fun To have a wrestle;then, as you attack, I’ll up and put my dagger through his back While you and heare struggling, as in game; Then draw your dagger too and do the same. Then allthis money will be ours to spend, Divided equally of course, dear friend.”(Page 163 line 166-174) By them both agreeing to this, they believe that theywill have more money to split between the two of them by killing the other one.
This is proof that they are greedy because all three of them found the money andeach one deserves their share of the money. Plus they are all friends witheachother and should be splitting the money, not trying to stab each other inthe back in order for them to get more money. The next example showing how greedcan deceive friends is portrayed when the friend goes into town. As the othertwo were plotting a plan, so was the friend that went to town. However, none ofthem thought that the other friend would also be plotting kill them. He slylysays to himself, ” And so the Fiend, our common enemy, Was given power toput it in his thought That there was always poison to be bought, And that withpoison he could kill his friends. To men in such a state the Devil sends Thoughts of this kind, and has a full permission To lure then on to sorrow andperdition, For this young man was utterly content To kill them both and never torepent.” (Page 164 line 186-195) Although this plan may seem to beerrorless because he is the only one to know, greed is the power that drives himinto trying to complete this task.
Unfortunately both the plans that the friendsthought of both backfire because neither of them thought the other friend wouldbe planning to kill them. When he gets back from town, they start to wrestlewith him. While wrestling, they stab and kill him. Then to celebrate theirvictory, they drink the wine, which is really poison. Next both of them die andno one gets the money. These killings would not have taken place had it not beenthe greed of all the friends because of the newfound money. In conclusionneither of the friends would have died if the money they found didn’t turn theirfriendship into greed. One should be careful when false flattery comes fromthose that one does not know well or at all. By using false flattery, one canget himself or herself into or out of trouble when meeting a new character whichis shown in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale”. There are two instances inwhich false flattery gets Chanticleer into and out of trouble. The first of thetwo occasions that Chanticleer is able to get into trouble and escape it is whenSir Russell Fox tries to coax him into singing. During the day, Chanticleerdreams that while singing a fox grabs him and runs into the woods to eat him. Hebelieved that the dream was just nothing because he knew that gas or an upsetstomach would cause bad dreams. So Chanticleer took no note of the dream anddidn’t believe it would happen to him. As Chanticleer was standing in thegarden, something started to head towards him. It was Sir Russell Fox trying toenter the garden. Once the roaster sees Sir Russell Fox coming over, Sir Russell Fox says “Truly I came to do no other thing Than just to lie and listen toyou sing. You have as merry a voice as God has given To any angel in the courtsof Heaven; To that you add a musical sense as strong As had Boethius who wasskilled in song.
There never was a singer I would rather Have heard at dawn thanyour respected father. All that he sang came welling from his soul And how heput his voice under control! The pains he took to keep his eyes tight shut Inconcentration – then the tip-toe strut, The slender necks stretched out, thedelicate beak! No singer could approach him in technique I’ve read the story inBurnel the Ass.” (Page 153 lines 484-494) With the fox using someimpressive words toward Chanticleer and his singing abilities, Chanticleerdecides to sing for him. While singing the fox has a chance to seize Chanticleerwhen he sings, because whiling singing he closes his eyes like his father did.
As the fox uses more and more false flattery towards Chanticleer, he is lesssacred and concentrates more on singing for Sir Russell Fox. While singing thefox snatches Chanticleer and runs away with him into the woods. Everyone panicsand chases after the fox to try and get back Chanticleer. Another example offalse flattery in ” The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” is when Chanticleer usesit to free himself from danger. The fox takes him into the forest so he can eathim. But before that happens, Chanticleer starts to convince Sir Russell Foxinto doing something. Chanticleer declares, ” Sir Fox, if I were you, asGod’s My witness, I would round upon these clods And shout, ‘ Turn back, yousaucy bumpkins all! A very pestilence upon you falls! Now that I have in safetyreached the wood Do what you like, the cook is mine for good; I’ll eat him therein spite of every one.” (Page 156 lines 593 -600)
Now this time Chanticleeris able to use false flattery to get him out of the trouble. He tells the fox,he should mock the others by calling them names to make them even madder and tolike rubbing it in their face. By the fox believing this, he tries to talk andin trying to talk he opens his mouth. As Sir Russell Fox opens his mouth,Chanticleer quickly falls to the ground and runs to safety. If the fox had neveropened his mouth, he would still have Chanticleer for his meal. Overall, falseflattery can be used in two ways. It can be used as in Sir Russell Foxoutsmarting Chanticleer into singing or as Chanticleer manipulating Sir RussellFox into opening his mouth so Chanticleer can run away. Sometimes a punishmentcan lead to a result in a person improving him or herself. The reformation orrehabilitation of a man can change from bad to good, as in ” The Wife ofBath.” Through out the story the knight changes from bad when he firstmeets his wife until he changes into good when he lets her choice what she wantsto be. As the story begins, the knight rapes a young lady and in doing so issentenced to die or life in jail. But in order to let him live, the Queen tellshim that he has one year to find what women desire the most and if he finds outhe can have his life back. In trying to accomplish this task, many women tellhim many different things that they want most. When he comes to an old lady shepromises to tell him what women want most as long as he does her a favor if itis in his power. The answer that she gives him is that women desire dominationover their husbands. When the knight visits the Queen his answer is correct andthe old lady asks for them to get married.
The knight is in shock and does notbelieve what has just happened. In reply he sadly says, “Alas and woe isme! I know quite well that such was my promise. For the love of God ask forsomething else; take all my property and let my body go. No, my damnations!Alas, that any of my birth should ever be so foully disgraced! But it was allfor nothing; the end was this, that he was forced to accept the fact that hemust needs wed her; and he took his old wife and went to bed.” (Page 231)By the lady asking him to marry her he gets extremely upset and doesn’t want tofulfill her wish. His reasons are that she was old, ugly, and poor. The knightis the total opposite because none of these characteristics belong to him.
However, no matter how much he dislikes her he still has to marry her. To theknight, marrying her would be a huge punishment. Next, even though it wasagainst his will, they still got married and after a while a problem comes upbetween them. She sees how unhappy he is and decides to give him two choices ofwhat he wishes her to be. They are for her to be young, beautiful, andunfaithful or old, ugly, and honest.
To these choices he replies, “My ladyand my love, and wife so dear, I put myself under your wise control; youyourself choose which may be most pleasurable and most honorable to you and tome also. I don’t care which of the two I get; for whatever pleases you sufficesfor me.” (Page 239) By now his personality values have changed because hehas been with her for sometime now and has had really no choice in what hewants. But now she has given him the chance for her to become what ever hewants. Since he told her to pick which one she would rather be, he gave her whatwomen desire most as in the domination over their husbands. He has gotten overthe fact that she may not be the prettiest or the youngest but he still can loveher. Since he has changed from when he has first meet her, he tells her that itis her decision because no matter what she may be or look like, he still canlove her.
With him saying this, she decides to be a little of both. She will behonest, young, and beautiful. This makes the both of them very pleased to bewith each other. In The Canterbury Tales, several themes are portrayed to showdifferent themes, which Geoffrey tries to demonstrate. The theme and symbol from”The Pardoner’s Tale,” is that greed may convince people to do wrong,while at the same time, and be stabbing a friend in the back. Next, in “TheNun’s Priest’s Tale,” the theme is to be cautious and careful of thesincerity of flattery from those that one does not know. Lastly, in “TheWife of Bath,” punishment can result in a person improving and redeeminghimself or herself. Or they can also change from bad to good because of acertain punishment they have received. By using all these different types ofwriting in his stories, Chaucer tries to demonstrate themes and symbols, which aperson may encounter in one’s life. Stories are used to show that symbols areways to represent or show various themes in literature. Finally, throughout allthese tales there are consequences for peoples actions, which means that no taskshall ever get over looked. Are there many ways that themes and symbols can beshown in stories? Geoffrey Chaucer uses many different themes, symbols andstyles in writing all of tales in The Canterbury Tales. By using these things,Geoffrey utilizes several specific symbols to illustrate various central themes.
The characters in the tales make the same mistakes that ordinary people wouldmake, and they receive the same or even worse consequences. One message that isportrayed is greed can make people to evil actions. An example of this is in”The Pardoner’s Tale,” when the three friends wind up killing eachother because of their greed for the money. The second message that is displayedis that one should be careful when meeting strangers and to be cautious of thesincerity of false flattery from those that one does not know. For example, in”The Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” Chanticleer falls for false flattery fromSir Russell Fox, but then he gets even with him when he to uses it to trick SirRussell Fox. The third and last message that is shown is that reformation in aperson can occur because of some type of punishment. This theme occurs in “The Wife of Bath,” in that the lady that the knight has to marry is old andugly, but because of this punishment of having to marry her, he eventuallystarts to like her. As shown with the three friends in “The Pardoner’sTale”, greed stabs friends in the back and deceives them into doing wrong.
There are two occasions in which the three friends plot against each other soone may receive more money than the others may. First of all, the three friendsfind a collection of gold coins under a tree, which they decide should be theirsand they choose to try to take it. They realize that they can not take the coinsduring the day because people will assume they are robbers. After figuring out aplan, one friend goes to town to get supplies for the others. While he is gonethe two other friends talk and plot actions to occur when he returns. The onefriend says to the other, ” You see that we are two, And two are twice aspowerful as one. Now look; when he comes back, get up in fun To have a wrestle;then, as you attack, I’ll up and put my dagger through his back While you and heare struggling, as in game; Then draw your dagger too and do the same. Then allthis money will be ours to spend, Divided equally of course, dear friend.”(Page 163 line 166-174) By them both agreeing to this, they believe that theywill have more money to split between the two of them by killing the other one.
This is proof that they are greedy because all three of them found the money andeach one deserves their share of the money. Plus they are all friends witheachother and should be splitting the money, not trying to stab each other inthe back in order for them to get more money. The next example showing how greedcan deceive friends is portrayed when the friend goes into town. As the othertwo were plotting a plan, so was the friend that went to town. However, none ofthem thought that the other friend would also be plotting kill them. He slylysays to himself, ” And so the Fiend, our common enemy, Was given power toput it in his thought That there was always poison to be bought, And that withpoison he could kill his friends. To men in such a state the Devil sendsThoughts of this kind, and has a full permission To lure then on to sorrow andperdition, For this young man was utterly content To kill them both and never torepent.” (Page 164 line 186-195) Although this plan may seem to beerrorless because he is the only one to know, greed is the power that drives himinto trying to complete this task. Unfortunately both the plans that the friendsthought of both backfire because neither of them thought the other friend wouldbe planning to kill them.
When he gets back from town, they start to wrestlewith him. While wrestling, they stab and kill him. Then to celebrate theirvictory, they drink the wine, which is really poison. Next both of them die andno one gets the money. These killings would not have taken place had it not beenthe greed of all the friends because of the newfound money. In conclusionneither of the friends would have died if the money they found didn’t turn theirfriendship into greed. One should be careful when false flattery comes fromthose that one does not know well or at all. By using false flattery, one canget himself or herself into or out of trouble when meeting a new character whichis shown in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale”. There are two instances inwhich false flattery gets Chanticleer into and out of trouble. The first of thetwo occasions that Chanticleer is able to get into trouble and escape it is whenSir Russell Fox tries to coax him into singing. During the day, Chanticleerdreams that while singing a fox grabs him and runs into the woods to eat him.
Hebelieved that the dream was just nothing because he knew that gas or an upsetstomach would cause bad dreams. So Chanticleer took no note of the dream anddidn’t believe it would happen to him. As Chanticleer was standing in thegarden, something started to head towards him. It was Sir Russell Fox trying toenter the garden. Once the roaster sees Sir Russell Fox coming over, Sir RussellFox says “Truly I came to do no other thing Than just to lie and listen toyou sing. You have as merry a voice as God has given To any angel in the courtsof Heaven; To that you add a musical sense as strong As had Boethius who wasskilled in song. There never was a singer I would rather Have heard at dawn thanyour respected father. All that he sang came welling from his soul And how heput his voice under control! The pains he took to keep his eyes tight shut Inconcentration – then the tip-toe strut, The slender necks stretched out, thedelicate beak! No singer could approach him in technique I’ve read the story inBurnel the Ass.” (Page 153 lines 484-494) With the fox using someimpressive words toward Chanticleer and his singing abilities, Chanticleerdecides to sing for him. While singing the fox has a chance to seize Chanticleerwhen he sings, because whiling singing he closes his eyes like his father did.
As the fox uses more and more false flattery towards Chanticleer, he is lesssacred and concentrates more on singing for Sir Russell Fox. While singing thefox snatches Chanticleer and runs away with him into the woods. Everyone panicsand chases after the fox to try and get back Chanticleer. Another example offalse flattery in ” The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” is when Chanticleer usesit to free himself from danger. The fox takes him into the forest so he can eathim. But before that happens, Chanticleer starts to convince Sir Russell Foxinto doing something. Chanticleer declares, ” Sir Fox, if I were you, asGod’s My witness, I would round upon these clods And shout, ‘ Turn back, yousaucy bumpkins all! A very pestilence upon you falls! Now that I have in safetyreached the wood Do what you like, the cook is mine for good; I’ll eat him therein spite of every one.” (Page 156 lines 593 -600)
Now this time Chanticleeris able to use false flattery to get him out of the trouble. He tells the fox,he should mock the others by calling them names to make them even madder and tolike rubbing it in their face. By the fox believing this, he tries to talk andin trying to talk he opens his mouth. As Sir Russell Fox opens his mouth,Chanticleer quickly falls to the ground and runs to safety. If the fox had neveropened his mouth, he would still have Chanticleer for his meal. Overall, falseflattery can be used in two ways. It can be used as in Sir Russell Foxoutsmarting Chanticleer into singing or as Chanticleer manipulating Sir RussellFox into opening his mouth so Chanticleer can run away. Sometimes a punishmentcan lead to a result in a person improving him or herself. The reformation orrehabilitation of a man can change from bad to good, as in ” The Wife ofBath.” Through out the story the knight changes from bad when he firstmeets his wife until he changes into good when he lets her choice what she wantsto be. As the story begins, the knight rapes a young lady and in doing so issentenced to die or life in jail. But in order to let him live, the Queen tellshim that he has one year to find what women desire the most and if he finds outhe can have his life back. In trying to accomplish this task, many women tellhim many different things that they want most. When he comes to an old lady shepromises to tell him what women want most as long as he does her a favor if itis in his power. The answer that she gives him is that women desire dominationover their husbands.
When the knight visits the Queen his answer is correct andthe old lady asks for them to get married. The knight is in shock and does notbelieve what has just happened. In reply he sadly says, “Alas and woe isme! I know quite well that such was my promise. For the love of God ask forsomething else; take all my property and let my body go. No, my damnations!Alas, that any of my birth should ever be so foully disgraced! But it was allfor nothing; the end was this, that he was forced to accept the fact that hemust needs wed her; and he took his old wife and went to bed.” (Page 231)By the lady asking him to marry her he gets extremely upset and doesn’t want tofulfill her wish. His reasons are that she was old, ugly, and poor. The knightis the total opposite because none of these characteristics belong to him.
However, no matter how much he dislikes her he still has to marry her. To theknight, marrying her would be a huge punishment. Next, even though it wasagainst his will, they still got married and after a while a problem comes upbetween them. She sees how unhappy he is and decides to give him two choices ofwhat he wishes her to be. They are for her to be young, beautiful, andunfaithful or old, ugly, and honest. To these choices he replies, “My ladyand my love, and wife so dear, I put myself under your wise control; youyourself choose which may be most pleasurable and most honorable to you and tome also. I don’t care which of the two I get; for whatever pleases you sufficesfor me.” (Page 239) By now his personality values have changed because hehas been with her for sometime now and has had really no choice in what hewants. But now she has given him the chance for her to become what ever hewants.
Since he told her to pick which one she would rather be, he gave her whatwomen desire most as in the domination over their husbands. He has gotten overthe fact that she may not be the prettiest or the youngest but he still can loveher. Since he has changed from when he has first meet her, he tells her that itis her decision because no matter what she may be or look like, he still canlove her. With him saying this, she decides to be a little of both. She will behonest, young, and beautiful. This makes the both of them very pleased to bewith each other. In The Canterbury Tales, several themes are portrayed to showdifferent themes, which Geoffrey tries to demonstrate. The theme and symbol from”The Pardoner’s Tale,” is that greed may convince people to do wrong,while at the same time, and be stabbing a friend in the back. Next, in “TheNun’s Priest’s Tale,” the theme is to be cautious and careful of thesincerity of flattery from those that one does not know.
Lastly, in “TheWife of Bath,” punishment can result in a person improving and redeeminghimself or herself. Or they can also change from bad to good because of acertain punishment they have received. By using all these different types ofwriting in his stories, Chaucer tries to demonstrate themes and symbols, which aperson may encounter in one’s life. Stories are used to show that symbols areways to represent or show various themes in literature. Finally, throughout allthese tales there are consequences for peoples actions, which means that no taskshall ever get over looked. Are there many ways that themes and symbols can beshown in stories? Geoffrey Chaucer uses many different themes, symbols andstyles in writing all of tales in The Canterbury Tales. By using these things,Geoffrey utilizes several specific symbols to illustrate various central themes.
The characters in the tales make the same mistakes that ordinary people wouldmake, and they receive the same or even worse consequences. One message that isportrayed is greed can make people to evil actions. An example of this is in”The Pardoner’s Tale,” when the three friends wind up killing eachother because of their greed for the money. The second message that is displayedis that one should be careful when meeting strangers and to be cautious of thesincerity of false flattery from those that one does not know. For example, in”The Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” Chanticleer falls for false flattery fromSir Russell Fox, but then he gets even with him when he to uses it to trick SirRussell Fox. The third and last message that is shown is that reformation in aperson can occur because of some type of punishment. This theme occurs in “The Wife of Bath,” in that the lady that the knight has to marry is old andugly, but because of this punishment of having to marry her, he eventuallystarts to like her. As shown with the three friends in “The Pardoner’sTale”, greed stabs friends in the back and deceives them into doing wrong.
There are two occasions in which the three friends plot against each other soone may receive more money than the others may. First of all, the three friendsfind a collection of gold coins under a tree, which they decide should be theirsand they choose to try to take it. They realize that they can not take the coinsduring the day because people will assume they are robbers. After figuring out aplan, one friend goes to town to get supplies for the others. While he is gonethe two other friends talk and plot actions to occur when he returns. The onefriend says to the other, ” You see that we are two, And two are twice aspowerful as one. Now look; when he comes back, get up in fun To have a wrestle;then, as you attack, I’ll up and put my dagger through his back While you and heare struggling, as in game; Then draw your dagger too and do the same. Then allthis money will be ours to spend, Divided equally of course, dear friend.”(Page 163 line 166-174) By them both agreeing to this, they believe that theywill have more money to split between the two of them by killing the other one.
This is proof that they are greedy because all three of them found the money andeach one deserves their share of the money. Plus they are all friends witheachother and should be splitting the money, not trying to stab each other inthe back in order for them to get more money. The next example showing how greedcan deceive friends is portrayed when the friend goes into town. As the othertwo were plotting a plan, so was the friend that went to town. However, none ofthem thought that the other friend would also be plotting kill them. He slylysays to himself, ” And so the Fiend, our common enemy, Was given power toput it in his thought That there was always poison to be bought, And that withpoison he could kill his friends. To men in such a state the Devil sendsThoughts of this kind, and has a full permission To lure then on to sorrow andperdition, For this young man was utterly content To kill them both and never torepent.” (Page 164 line 186-195) Although this plan may seem to beerrorless because he is the only one to know, greed is the power that drives himinto trying to complete this task. Unfortunately both the plans that the friendsthought of both backfire because neither of them thought the other friend wouldbe planning to kill them. When he gets back from town, they start to wrestlewith him. While wrestling, they stab and kill him. Then to celebrate theirvictory, they drink the wine, which is really poison. Next both of them die andno one gets the money. These killings would not have taken place had it not beenthe greed of all the friends because of the newfound money.
In conclusionneither of the friends would have died if the money they found didn’t turn theirfriendship into greed. One should be careful when false flattery comes fromthose that one does not know well or at all. By using false flattery, one canget himself or herself into or out of trouble when meeting a new character whichis shown in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale”. There are two instances inwhich false flattery gets Chanticleer into and out of trouble. The first of thetwo occasions that Chanticleer is able to get into trouble and escape it is whenSir Russell Fox tries to coax him into singing. During the day, Chanticleerdreams that while singing a fox grabs him and runs into the woods to eat him. Hebelieved that the dream was just nothing because he knew that gas or an upsetstomach would cause bad dreams. So Chanticleer took no note of the dream anddidn’t believe it would happen to him. As Chanticleer was standing in thegarden, something started to head towards him. It was Sir Russell Fox trying toenter the garden. Once the roaster sees Sir Russell Fox coming over, Sir RussellFox says “Truly I came to do no other thing Than just to lie and listen toyou sing.
You have as merry a voice as God has given To any angel in the courtsof Heaven; To that you add a musical sense as strong As had Boethius who wasskilled in song. There never was a singer I would rather Have heard at dawn thanyour respected father. All that he sang came welling from his soul And how heput his voice under control! The pains he took to keep his eyes tight shut Inconcentration – then the tip-toe strut, The slender necks stretched out, thedelicate beak! No singer could approach him in technique I’ve read the story inBurnel the Ass.” (Page 153 lines 484-494) With the fox using someimpressive words toward Chanticleer and his singing abilities, Chanticleerdecides to sing for him. While singing the fox has a chance to seize Chanticleerwhen he sings, because whiling singing he closes his eyes like his father did.
As the fox uses more and more false flattery towards Chanticleer, he is lesssacred and concentrates more on singing for Sir Russell Fox. While singing thefox snatches Chanticleer and runs away with him into the woods. Everyone panicsand chases after the fox to try and get back Chanticleer. Another example offalse flattery in ” The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” is when Chanticleer usesit to free himself from danger. The fox takes him into the forest so he can eathim. But before that happens, Chanticleer starts to convince Sir Russell Foxinto doing something. Chanticleer declares, ” Sir Fox, if I were you, asGod’s My witness, I would round upon these clods And shout, ‘ Turn back, yousaucy bumpkins all! A very pestilence upon you falls! Now that I have in safetyreached the wood Do what you like, the cook is mine for good; I’ll eat him therein spite of every one.” (Page 156 lines 593 -600)
Now this time Chanticleeris able to use false flattery to get him out of the trouble. He tells the fox,he should mock the others by calling them names to make them even madder and tolike rubbing it in their face. By the fox believing this, he tries to talk andin trying to talk he opens his mouth. As Sir Russell Fox opens his mouth,Chanticleer quickly falls to the ground and runs to safety. If the fox had neveropened his mouth, he would still have Chanticleer for his meal. Overall, falseflattery can be used in two ways. It can be used as in Sir Russell Foxoutsmarting Chanticleer into singing or as Chanticleer manipulating Sir RussellFox into opening his mouth so Chanticleer can run away. Sometimes a punishmentcan lead to a result in a person improving him or herself. The reformation orrehabilitation of a man can change from bad to good, as in ” The Wife ofBath.” Through out the story the knight changes from bad when he firstmeets his wife until he changes into good when he lets her choice what she wantsto be. As the story begins, the knight rapes a young lady and in doing so issentenced to die or life in jail. But in order to let him live, the Queen tellshim that he has one year to find what women desire the most and if he finds outhe can have his life back. In trying to accomplish this task, many women tellhim many different things that they want most.
When he comes to an old lady shepromises to tell him what women want most as long as he does her a favor if itis in his power. The answer that she gives him is that women desire dominationover their husbands. When the knight visits the Queen his answer is correct andthe old lady asks for them to get married. The knight is in shock and does notbelieve what has just happened. In reply he sadly says, “Alas and woe isme! I know quite well that such was my promise. For the love of God ask forsomething else; take all my property and let my body go. No, my damnations!Alas, that any of my birth should ever be so foully disgraced! But it was allfor nothing; the end was this, that he was forced to accept the fact that hemust needs wed her; and he took his old wife and went to bed.” (Page 231)By the lady asking him to marry her he gets extremely upset and doesn’t want tofulfill her wish. His reasons are that she was old, ugly, and poor. The knightis the total opposite because none of these characteristics belong to him.
However, no matter how much he dislikes her he still has to marry her. To theknight, marrying her would be a huge punishment. Next, even though it wasagainst his will, they still got married and after a while a problem comes upbetween them. She sees how unhappy he is and decides to give him two choices ofwhat he wishes her to be. They are for her to be young, beautiful, andunfaithful or old, ugly, and honest. To these choices he replies, “My ladyand my love, and wife so dear, I put myself under your wise control; youyourself choose which may be most pleasurable and most honorable to you and tome also. I don’t care which of the two I get; for whatever pleases you sufficesfor me.” (Page 239) By now his personality values have changed because hehas been with her for sometime now and has had really no choice in what hewants. But now she has given him the chance for her to become what ever hewants. Since he told her to pick which one she would rather be, he gave her whatwomen desire most as in the domination over their husbands. He has gotten overthe fact that she may not be the prettiest or the youngest but he still can loveher. Since he has changed from when he has first meet her, he tells her that itis her decision because no matter what she may be or look like, he still canlove her. With him saying this, she decides to be a little of both. She will behonest, young, and beautiful. This makes the both of them very pleased to bewith each other.
In The Canterbury Tales, several themes are portrayed to showdifferent themes, which Geoffrey tries to demonstrate. The theme and symbol from”The Pardoner’s Tale,” is that greed may convince people to do wrong,while at the same time, and be stabbing a friend in the back. Next, in “TheNun’s Priest’s Tale,” the theme is to be cautious and careful of thesincerity of flattery from those that one does not know. Lastly, in “TheWife of Bath,” punishment can result in a person improving and redeeminghimself or herself. Or they can also change from bad to good because of acertain punishment they have received. By using all these different types ofwriting in his stories, Chaucer tries to demonstrate themes and symbols, which aperson may encounter in one’s life. Stories are used to show that symbols areways to represent or show various themes in literature.
Finally, throughout allthese tales there are consequences for peoples actions, which means that no taskshall ever get over looked.
