摘 要

杰弗雷•乔叟被称为英国文学之父，也是中世纪最重要的诗人和作家之一。《坎特伯雷故事集》是其最有名的的作品，主要描述了一群香客在去坎特伯雷朝拜的路上，为活跃气氛每人轮流所讲的有趣故事。其中关于巴斯妇的序言以及她讲的故事最为精彩。本文以巴斯妇为例， 主要从封建传统视角和人文主义视角来探究乔叟女性观的矛盾性及其成因。由于乔叟处于英国封建社会和资本主义社会的过渡时期，其女性观不可避免地受到时代的影响。一方面，巴斯妇保留了传统女性贞洁，服从丈夫等品质。另一方面，巴斯妇又被赋予了及时行乐，追求自由, 男女平等等思想。研究结果表明，乔叟女性观所呈现的矛盾性与其生活经历和社会变革联系紧密，反映了时代对思想变化的重要影响。

关键词：《坎特伯雷故事集》；巴斯妇；女性观；矛盾性

Abstract

Geoffrey Chaucer is considered as the Father of English Literature and one of the most important poets and authors of the Middle Ages. His most famous work, The Canterbury Tales, mainly describes that some pilgrims, heading for Canterbury, tell interesting stories to lighten the atmosphere during the trip. The wife of Bath’s prologue and her tale are the most fantastic one in The Canterbury Tales. This paper, taking the example of the wife of Bath, explores and justifies the ambivalence of Chaucer’s view on women from the traditional feudal view and humanistic view. In fact, Geoffrey Chaucer was in the transition period from feudalism to capitalism of the British society, so his view on women was affected by the time inevitably. On the one hand, the wife of Bath still remained the qualities of chastity and obedience to husbands. On the other hand, the wife of Bath had the qualities of pursuit of desire, freedom, gender equality and so on. The result shows that the ambivalence of Chaucer’s view on women is closely related to his life experiences and social upheaval and it reflects the important influence that era exert on people’s thought.

Key Words: The Canterbury Tales; the wife of Bath; view on women; ambivalence

Contents

1. Introduction 1
   1. The brief introduction to Geoffrey Chaucer 1
   2. The Canterbury Tales and the wife of Bath 1
   3. Literature review 2
2. Geoffrey Chaucer’s View on Women through the Wife of Bath 4
   1. The traditional feudal view on women 4
   2. The advanced humanistic view on women 5
   3. The ambivalence of Chaucer’s view on women 5
3. The Inevitability of the Ambivalence 7
   1. The life experiences and three writing periods of Geoffrey Chaucer 7
      1. Influenced by the French literature (1359-1372) 7
      2. Influenced by the Italian literature(1372-1386) 8
      3. The mature period (1386-1400) 9
   2. The significant events of social upheaval 10
      1. Great events in politics 10
      2. Great events in economy 11
4. Conclusion 13

References 14

Acknowledgments 15

The Ambivalence of Chaucer’s View on Women through the Wife of Bath

Introduction

This chapter is going to give some introductions to the author, Geoffrey Chaucer, his most famous work, the Canterbury Tales, and the wife of Bath. The section of the wife of Bath includes two parts: the long prologue about herself and a general epitomize of the tale told by her.

The brief introduction to Geoffrey Chaucer

Born in a rich family, Geoffrey Chaucer became an attendant of a royal prince when he was young. Wonderful life experiences, participating in a war, being captured by the French, being redeemed back to British, traveling to European countries and securing official positions, offered him so many writing materials. Chaucer caught the tail of the medieval literature and became a very typical writer of this period. The most successful masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, was the pinnacle work in his writing career. Geoffrey Chaucer was regarded as “The Father of English Poetry” because he changed the priority of French and Latin and stimulated the language English even some London dialects used in literary works and also he invented heroic couplet, which promoted the development of English. Geoffrey Chaucer finally was buried in the Westminster Abbey. Since then, Westminster Abbey has become a place giving highest recognition to poets who had great achievements. Thus Chaucer was deemed to be one of the greatest writers in the history of English Literature.

• 1. The Canterbury Tales and the wife of Bath

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of short stories in verse written by Geoffrey Chaucer in his late years, which is regarded as a monument in the history of British literature. The book describes the full picture of the British society at that time to the life and also embodies a grand spectacle full of life vitality and the features of the time. The characters in this book almost cover people at all levels, from knights to monks, nuns to housewives, merchants to craftsmen, doctors to lawyers, scholars to farmers. All of these individuals were going to Canterbury to pilgrimage St.Thomas. In order to lighten the boring atmosphere during the trip, each pilgrim was required to tell two stories

back and forth respectively. But Geoffrey Chaucer did not finish them all, only leaving the preface, twenty perfect stories and four uncompleted stories to the readers.