Chaucer s Canterbury Tales And The Wife Of Bath s Tale

Didactic literature is a work of writing that has been around for many centuries. It can come in all types of forms- novels, plays, poems, etc. The main similarity that all didactic literature have in common is their message. They all aim to impact their audience with a message or moral that usually involves religion, philosophy, history, or even politics. In a way, didactic literature always tries to improve a part of society in a moral basis. The reason it targets a part of society is because didactic literature has an audience of origin that the moral applies to. For example, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: â€Å"The Wife of Bath s Prologue† and â€Å"The Wife of Bath s Tale† , which is written by Geoffrey Chaucer, takes place during the late†¦show more content†¦Within these three relationships, the power in the relationship was given to the woman. However, the 5th husband that she married differed from the first three. He wanted to have the power in the relationship and this resulted in a clash. Ultimately, the husband yelled at her, beat her, and left her deaf on one ear. This shows that if both the woman and man want control in the relationship, there will always be a problem. These marriages teach the reader that a marriage needs to have both powers in balance and cooperate together in order to succeed. Moving on to Chaucer’s second tale, there are many lessons to be taught about chivalry. This tale tells the story of a narcissistic knight that rapes a young woman alongside a river. Once King Arthur finds about this sin he demands the knights head. Fortunately, the knight is spared by the woman but in a redeemable manner. The knight is set out on a year long mission in order to answer one question- â€Å"what do women want the most?†. After the year long mission the knight returns and answers the question successfully. This answer the knight gives is what coincides with the prologue’s last lesson. â€Å"Wo men want the same self-sovereignty over her husband, as over her lover, and master him, he must not be above her†(Chaucer, 214-218). This saying, again, is addressing the balance in power within a relationship. There is no doubt that Chaucer believes a successful marriage needs a balanceShow MoreRelatedMoral In The Canterbury Tales1221 Words   |  5 PagesThe Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales have an ultimate lesson at the end, just as every other literary work does. In some of them, he simply states what it is, or some may have to be inferred. During the time, many social and historical events were taking place, and in some instances, Chaucer chose to base the moral around it. While reading The Canterbury Tales, the audience gets entertainment and a basic knowledge of what life what like through the lessons he presents. 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