Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 14615
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Saunders , Corinne J.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Woman Displaced: Rape and Romance in Chaucer's "Wife of Bath's Tale" ["Thus, the 'Wife of Bath's Tale' achieves two ends simultaneously. It explores minutely the problem of rape as a crime and the legal confusion over its status, referring to changing views of rape and the legal displacement of women, to the desire of women for action against rape, and to the possibility of the education of men regarding the need for equality in relationships yet at the same time, the tale affirms patriarchal values, inserting the woman within these structures and sustaining a traditional insistence on the action of rape as an element of romance: we hear no more of the victim, the knight is punished, but finally rewarded through otherworldly adventure, and the ideal of the young, beautiful and obedient wife is upheld." (page 131)].
  • Source: Arthurian Literature 13, ( 1995): Pages 115 - 131.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Chaucer, Geoffrey, Poet- Canterbury Tales- Wife of Bath's Tale Kidnapping Law Literature- Verse Rape in Literature Raptus [Latin: Rape or Abduction, Either Forcible or Consensual, Sometimes with the Intention of Marriage] Wife of Bath (Literary Figure)
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 14
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  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1995.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 02619946