Be a Man

1. Be a Man Kyle Buttars, LyndsiBostwick, BeccaBarrus, Marian Spencer, Jodie Jensen

2. Thesis Men in the 14th century used Christianity as a tool to justify their oppression of women.

3. So What? Some critics believe The Wife of Bath’s Prologue is an attack on Christianity, but we are arguing that it is an attack on the male interpretation of Christianity.

4. So What? continued Thus, The Wife of Bath’s interpretation of scripture to justify her actions mirrors male clergy’s interpretation of scripture to justify men’s oppression of women.

5. Contents 1. Marxism 2. The Bible as a Patriarchal Text 3. Historical Evidence 4. Connection to The Wife of Bath.

6. Religion Suppresses People “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness.” (Marxism and Religion - Karl Marx)

7. The Bible is Patriarchal From the John Wycliffe translation of the Bible • (Proverbs 12:4) A diligent womman is a coroun to hirhosebond; and rot is in the boonys of that womman, that doiththingisworthi of confusioun. • (1 Corinthians 14:34-35) Wymmen in chirchis be stille; for it is not suffrid to hem to speke, but to be suget, as the laweseith. But if theiwolenony thing lerne, `at home axe thei her hosebondis; for it is foule thing to a womman to speke in chirche.

8. Chaucer and Wycliffe “A good deal of work is devoted to reading Chaucer’s poetry and prose (especially The Canterbury tales) as responsive to the controversies and energies generated by the early Wycliffite movement” (99). Chaucer’s Public Christianity; by Nicholas Watson

9. Limitations of Women in the Middle Ages “Indeed, the prevailing cultural attitudes of the Middle Ages considered women, as the descendants of Eve, intellectually and emotionally inferior to men and thus incapable of wielding authority effectively.” -- Mary Erler and Maryanne Kowaleski, Women and Power in the Middle Ages

10. Limitations of Women in the Middle Ages Women could not: • Vote or run for public office • Participate fully in other power structures such as the Church, the military, or the guilds. • Access institutions of higher learning They were handicapped by legal systems which in many instances made them “mere chattels” of their husbands or fathers

11. “Common law and customary law alike barred women from exercising the legal and landholding rights accorded men. Married women labored under the most severe legal handicaps because peasant economy and society gave their husbands, as heads of the households, the fullest rights.” Mary Erler and Maryanne Kowaleski, Women and Power in the Middle Ages

12. Limitations of Women in the Middle Ages “It all goes back, of course, to Adam and Eve--a story which shows, among other things, that if you make a woman out of a man, you are bound to get into trouble. In the life cycle of the Garden of Eden, the woman has been the deviant.” Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice

13. The Wife of Bath Men have justified their actions through translations of the Bible. Chaucer is trying to portray how this is wrong by having the Wife of Bath justify her actions like a man would.

14. Justification The wife of bath twist the scriptures to justify her actions. The fact that Christ went to a wedding means that he approves of marriages. (John chapter 2) God commanded us to increase and multiply, and thus my marriages have been sanctioned by God (Gen 1: 28) St. Paul only recommended women to maintain their virginity, never ordered it, so she could have sex. (1 Cor 7:25)

15. The End