Topic > Depiction of women's role in medieval society in The Wife of Bath

Women's roles in medieval society were considered insignificant and given no degree of respect due to depictions in biblical stories and texts that shaped medieval society . During the medieval period, women were not a symbol of strength or power. They were often blamed for the temptation of men and the reason for their sins. They were not held to the same morals or social values ​​as men. Why did medieval society view women as temptations rather than as upstanding citizens deserving of power and respect? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the eleventh book of the Etymologies, he describes the anatomical functions of a man and a woman. It focuses on the function of a woman who should be only for procreation and sexual desires rather than on the man who should be a symbol of power and work. «A man (vir) is called this because greater power (vis) resides in him than in a woman – hence 'strength' (virtus) also received its name – or because he deals with a woman with force (vis) . " Isidore of Seville (560 AD), who was a highly esteemed scholar of the Middle Ages, considered women inferior to men and praised the power of a man; “But strength is greater in man, less in woman, so much so that she will submit to the power of man; evidently this is so because, if women resisted, lust would push men to seek something else or to throw themselves on the male sex.” They followed the respected teachings of their scholars such as Isidore of Seville which led to the conclusion that the role of women was inferior and intended only for sexual desire. Throughout the Middle Ages all morals, values ​​and lessons were received and taught from the biblical stories and consciousness of Jesus was an important aspect of medieval culture in the history of Adam and Eve, Eve contributed to the expulsion of man from heaven and women were blamed for Adam and Eve's sin. They viewed this "original sin" as their responsibility because they viewed women as the epitome of sin and temptation based on these scholarly texts and biblical stories. There was little innovation in the thought process of medieval thought and it became increasingly misogynistic as the years passed. In the prologue of the Wife of Bath, it is meant to be an exemplary tale and she wanted to express it formally to establish authority. . She begins her prologue by stating that she is an connoisseur on matters of marriage based on her experience. The text is considered an allegorical confession of the Middle Ages. The Wife of Bath mocks work, clergymen, and scholars who belittle the position of women. She was seen as evil and immoral because she used satirical publications aimed at women as an advance in her prologue to address men. In the prologue, he used passages from St. Paul (“the apostle”) to draw attention to celibacy versus marriage and used the passages to advocate for marriage and marital sexuality. “Or where virginity commanded?” “He left the matter to our judgement. For if the Lord God had commanded virginity, He would have condemned every marriage as not good, and certainly, if the seed had not been sown, virginity, where then should it grow? Paul did not dare to forbid us…” This is an argument against the refutation of marriage and the uses of St. Paul are evidence in support of marriage. The Wife of Bath celebrates the sovereignty she gained over her husbands but why doesn't she stop the prologue here? His sovereignty was a boast against the conventional status of the husband over the wife..