Female Stereotypes in Medieval Literature: Androgyny and the Wife of Bath
- Author / Editor
- Rhodes, Jewell Parker.
Female Stereotypes in Medieval Literature: Androgyny and the Wife of Bath
- Published
- Journal of Women's Studies in Literature 1 (1979): 348-52.
- Description
- The Wife of Bath has served as an example of a medieval feminist. However, it would be more accurate to describe her as an androgyne--a person possessing both male and female characteristics. While it can be argued that she has liberated herself from certain societal constraints because of her dual character, one must consider the morality involved in her selection of experiences.
- Though androgyny may have served as a practical survival technique in medieval society, the wife succeeds only in becoming "spiritually corrupt" in both sexist role systems.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Wife of Bath and Her Tale.