Geoffrey Chaucer's poem “The Wife of Bath” and John Ford's play “C 'it's a shame she's a whore' depict sin and punishment. both contrastingly and correspondingly. Say no to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on 'Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned'?Get Original Essay Annabella from 'It's a Shame She's a Whore' Is Guilty of Lust, One of the Seven Deadly Sins , and even commits adultery and incest, which the Catholic Church considers mortal sins. However, in the first scene of act five, her monologue foregrounds repentance, the declarative "My conscience now rises against my lust" suggesting that she is her own prosecutor at the trial, the extended metaphor showing that she finds her own “depositions characterized by guilt.” This awareness of her own wrongdoing, and the ending of the scene with the declarative "Now I can welcome death", arouses sympathy from the audience, as she goes through Christian reformation, and shows her willingness to martyr herself . Even in death, the exclamation “Mercy, great Heaven!” presents her as seeking further absolution and makes her appear somewhat virtuous. Ford was heavily criticized for this by her contemporaries, because in Carolinian England her sins were among the most damning, and so the presentation of her as an ultimately good and moral Christian girl was distasteful to them. Ironically, however, this is Annabella's penance. which results in his greatest punishment, because it is undoubtedly the “paper lined with tears and blood” which makes his brother Giovanni sink into his frenzy of “doom plots”. In Act Five, Scene Five, his verse contains imagery of death, declaring his own "funeral tears" to be "his mourners" at his "grave", creating an ominous tone and foreshadowing that he "stabs" her at the end of the scene. However, her statement "To save your fame" indicates that her action is only done to protect her, because despite the brother's absolution, Annabella has not been truly freed from penance. In 17th-century England, an adulterous woman faced terrible disgrace, as evidenced by Hippolita's reputation as a "vigorous widow", and she would have fallen out of favor in society. The tragic irony of Giovanni's attempt to save his "good soul" from dishonor lies in its failure. Even in death, Annabella's reputation is tarnished and she is further berated, as evidenced by the Cardinal's rhetorical questioning "Who could not say, 'It's a shame she's a whore?' This final focus on her sexual activity places the blame for all of the tragic events in the play on Annabella and therefore punishes her indefinitely. On the other hand, we can say that Alisoun from “The Wife of Bath” goes largely unpunished for her. lust and promiscuity. In 14th-century England, common views of marriage matched those of the dominant Catholic Church. It was a sacred, patriarchal institution that allowed men to control women and be worshiped by them. However, Alisoun's views clearly contradict this, as the narrator Chaucer puts forward in the "General Prologue" to the "Canterbury Tales", with the statement "Housbondes at chirche dore she hadde fyve". Not only did she break the norm of medieval times by remarrying several times, but she was not afraid to dominate her relationships, declaring "in fact, I was her purgatory." Making hell a metaphor for herself strongly suggests that she was not submissive at all, asthis was expected of a medieval woman, due to the story in Genesis, which implied that women existed solely to serve men. Despite her disregard for traditional gender roles and her display of her sins, the wife is not punished. This may be due to her own belief that her sexual desires are not inherently evil, which is significant in relation to Annabella's self-deprecating attitude towards her sexuality. Alisoun uses biblical exegesis to justify his thoughts and actions, and it is undoubtedly this desire to fight against "authority" that allows him to escape severe punishment. In the statement "God commanded us to multiply and multiply" she attempts to validate her promiscuity, willfully ignoring the fact that the Catholic Church preached that sexual intercourse was for the sole purpose of procreation and not pleasure, as she chooses to do so. interpret it. Likewise, she invokes the stories of the "wise king, Daun Solomon", stating "I believe he had more than two wives". A feminist reading suggests that this was a subtle critique of patriarchal double standards, whereby men might be allowed to have multiple partners, while a woman would be looked down upon and shunned for doing so. However, the comment is very ironic, because Solomon turned away from God and had his kingdom taken away as punishment, which the wife seems to have misunderstood. Hence the exclamation that she wishes “to be refreshed half as much as him!” » is blasphemous, because he was not considered a man of grace. This would also have appalled medieval readers, as a woman's sexual desire in itself was considered dangerous, so comparing her desire to that of a man who had 1000 sexual partners would have been extremely scandalous. Despite his blasphemy, Alisoun's audacity serves him, because his verses are convincing and implacable. However, her profane use of the Holy Bible arouses distrust in the reader, and perhaps also in other pilgrims, because her manipulation, and sometimes simple ignorance, of its meaning proves that she is an unreliable narrator. The declarative “This nice text kan I understand it well” is therefore ironic, because she actually interprets it completely wrongly, to her own advantage. We can then think that his punishment lies in his reputation, because those who listen to him are skeptical of him and unconvinced by his argument. From Chaucer's "General Prologue", readers are aware that the wife's status matters to her, because she wears clothes "of fyn scarlet reed". It was against sumptuary laws for an ordinary woman to wear red, as it was very expensive and generally reserved for the nobility; therefore, Alisoun projects himself as being wealthy and of rank, showing an interest in this. However, it can also be argued that her participation in the pilgrimage, seen as a social event by people of different social status in medieval England, is a privilege, as she is able to seek out new men to attract. This shows that ultimately she goes unpunished, as she contentedly continues committing the same sins. The male characters in “It’s a Pity She’s a Whore” and “The Wife of Bath,” on the other hand, manage to completely escape punishment for their vigorous thoughts and actions. While Annabella loses her life and her reputation, her male counterpart Giovanni is unharmed by their incestuous affair, his death caused by his pride and not his love for his sister. He is undoubtedly the culprit of their shared sin, as evidenced in scene two of act one. The declarative “I have asked advice from the Holy Church, / Who tells me that I can love you” is a lie, manipulatingAnnabella so that she accepts their relationship. Before this proclamation, she appears reluctant, with the statement "You are my brother, Giovanni" containing an underlying declaration that they cannot be together for this reason. However, after hearing about the Church's supposed blessing, the stage direction shows that "She kneels", a motif that repeats in the third act with the friar and in the fourth act with Soranzo. A feminist reading of this motif sees this motif as representative of female submission to male domination, and it can be argued that this is the main difference between Giovanni and Annabella and the reason for their divergent destinies. The Carolinian audience would have considered her weak, and therefore her downfall inevitable, while even though he is unlikeable due to his pride, Giovanni's status as a man allows him to control the situation throughout the five acts . He does not expect punishment for his lust, the audience does not expect his punishment and, therefore, he escapes it. In "The Wife of Bath", the knight is guilty, the Tale emphasizing that he is “a vigorous bachelor”. Violent imagery is used to describe his rape of the “maid,” with a lexical cluster of aggression in the abstract nouns “force” and “oppressionioun” and the dynamic verb “rafte.” Despite this, he does not suffer for his sinful act, a reflection of the patriarchal order of medieval England. As a man and a man of status belonging to the “house” of “King Arthour,” he is protected, while the innocent girl he attacked remains vulnerable. Chaucer may have criticized the feudal system, suggesting that power breeds corruption, as Ford does in "It's a Pity She's a Whore" when Bergetto's murderer, Grimaldi, is received "under the protection of his Holiness” in act three, scene nine, simply for being “nobly born.” The knight endures “twelve months and a day” of almost fruitless searching, but this is as close to penance as possible. Chaucer's readers, however, may have considered the knight's submission to the "old wyf" as punishment enough. She addresses him with imperatives such as "Give me your thing here in my hand" and declaratives "The next thing I ask you, / You will do it", placing him under her command. For him to respond by accepting with the declarative "Hey, my troubles...I grant it" would have been considered demeaning in the Middle Ages, as men were believed to be superior and powerful beings. As Genesis suggested that women were created to serve men, such was the expectation of societies, and Chaucer's reversal of gender roles would have surprised many. However, it can be argued that his submission is worth it, since the knight is rewarded at the end of the story. tale with a woman who meets all the ideals of a medieval woman. This is evident in his repetition of “Bothe,” which has an intensifying effect on the declaratives “I would be yours…” and “…just and good.” The knight's luck in finding this woman is further emphasized in the declarative "I must be as good and trewe" and the long simile "Tomorrow I shall be as fair to behold / As any lady, empire or queen." As the names in this latter polysyndetic list have royal denotations, it elevates its beauty, while the first pairs of adjectives evoke honesty, fidelity, and kindness. In this, she defies feminine stereotypes, since she is neither the beautiful seductress nor the hideous woman but with a good heart. Therefore, it is indisputable that at the end of "The Wife of Bath's Tale" the "vigorous" knight remains unpunished for his sin. We can even say that he is rewarded for his first.