October 31, 2013
Mr. O’Brien
English
What
a women wants
The
Canterbury Tales is a series of tales that will continue to travel throughout
generations due to its everlasting relevance to society regardless of the time.
The problems that evolve in marriages and relationships, such as economic
hardships and also what characteristics of love should have priority over the
other, are discussed in these tales. Variations in the standards held for men
and alternative standard for women allows access to hypocrisy and a “double
standard.” Through his literature Chaucer addresses our society’s condoning the
corruption of trust in a marriage, and accepting appearance as a dominant
factor in love, both of which have become more easily adopted over generations.
In
today’s world we continuously tract the lives of our admired celebrities, and
as a result our criteria for the standards of marriage evolves from the
perception we view their publicized marriages. Reality television and
alternative sources of media guides the social status of society. Recently a
star of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, Nene Leakes, remarried her husband
Gregg but with condition attached. She demanded that a prenuptial agreement be
signed as protection from possible reoccurrence of another divorce. She justifies her reasoning with the following
statement. "You would handle
your will upfront, or your life insurance — you handle all those
things before you pass. It's the same thing, in case something happens."
Nene argues that her husband would have done the same had he not been
distracted by her physical attributes. She says "[Men] like Hello Kitty, and then
they worry about the other stuff later,"
Nene’s experience addresses two things of
similarity with the Canterbury tales, one being men’s ability to be blinded and
solely focused on the physical attraction to a woman.
In respects to marriage, Chaucer fails to associate marriage with love in his
tales but links it instead to age and appearance. Through his literature he surfaces
the idea of a disbelief in a married couple being unequally yoked. In the wife
of baths tale, a knight owed his life to an older woman, after she helped him
in his mission to avoid imprisonment. He faced the dilemma of whether or not to
withstand his misery in the marriage caused by his wife’s unappealing presence
or to have her transform into a more appealing woman. In the context of the
Wife of baths tale the knight is ridiculed by his wife for desiring a woman
with beauty and an idea is conveyed that women should be valued for her effort
and dedication in a marriage and not for her appearance
The
second thing that Nene’s experience links with the Canterbury tale is the
hypocrisy that women often portray. Gregg struggles to be welcomed back into Nene’s
heart under the circumstances that he would have to give her the most valuable
ring he could obtain but after spending a bulk of his money on her he would
have to surrender his rights to obtain any profit from Nene’s financial
investments. In The Wife of Bath Tales Nene reinforces that the thing women
want most in life is power and superiority over men. Gregg’s vulnerability and
his willingness to go beyond measures made him gullible and responsive to all
her requests.
A
prenuptial agreement allows the bread winner to be a threat to terminate the
marriage when a marriage is generally established on a foundation of trust. The Huffington post offers that “the divorce rate for
first marriages –meaning a marriage in which neither person has been married
before—is reportedly between 40 and 50%. But for second marriages, in which at least one of
the spouses has been married once before, the rate jumps to between 60 and 67%.And for third marriages (at least one of the spouses
has been married twice before), it's a whopping 70-73%.” Trust begins to
weaken and deceit grows. We are to interpret the satirical manner of The
Wife of Bath’s Tale in a way that will allow us to acknowledge hypocrisies.
In
conclusion, evidence from the Canterbury tales proves women want what they are
not willing to give and display hypocritical attitudes. The Millers Tales
provides support for both of these. “She
was a girl of eighteen years of age. Jealous he was and kept her in her cage,
for he was old and she as wild and young; he thought himself quite likely to be
stung” (Page 89) A marriage cannot be a successful one if the two are of
different ranks, or unequally yoked. What a woman wants is contradicted when in
the miller’s tale; the lady is willing to commit an infidelity only by the
restrictions that her husband must be fooled and unaware of the
circumstances. In the tale the woman
says “on her suspicious husbands foolish fits, and if so be the trick worked
out all right, she then would sleep with Nicholas all night.” Women want
superiority in their marriage, and are willing to take advantage of their
spouse regardless of their commitment or dedication to their marriage.
Jim Duzak , Second and Third marriage, Web. 6 Nov 2013.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/galtime/second-and-third-marriage_1_b_2551496.html>.
Chelsea Brady, Nene Leakes Why I
got a Prenup, Web 18, Sepy 2013.
http://www.bravotv.com/blogs/the-dish/nene-leakes-why-i-got-a-prenup
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