Part six: l.235 'Sire old kanyard' - l.307 'I wol hym noght'
Synopsis of l.235-307
The Wife takes control
The Wife brings a catalogue of charges against her husbands, including misdemeanours that she alleges they have falsely accused her of. One charge concerns her interest in ‘oure apprentice Janekyn', who has curly shiny gold hair. The Wife colludes with others to bear false witness against the husbands. This sustained attack proves exhausting for the husbands but apparently stimulating for her.
Commentary on l.235-307
l.235 Sire olde kaynard, is this thyn array?: The wife addresses her husband(s) and refutes their typical complaints about wives. Most of these originate with an ancient Greek philosopher, Theophrastus, and so indirectly the Wife is accusing him, thereby challenging another male ‘auctoritee'.
More on Theophrastus: The Golden Book on Marriage, a well known anti-feminist work in Chaucer's time is attributed to Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher who died in 287 BC. It survives in St Jerome's Against Jovinian.
Many contemporary readers or listeners to the Wife's Prologue would recognise the points that she imputes to her husband/s as coming from The Golden Book on Marriage. These include:
- The problems about how much women need, fine clothes etc.
- Women's unending talk
- The lack of real choice in selecting a wife, since she cannot be tried out first
- A wife's need for praise and attention
- The difficulty of guarding an unchaste woman.
According to Theophrastus, marriage is like trying to hold a constantly besieged castle and is better not undertaken at all. There is simply no reason for a wise man to choose it.
You can read Theophrastus' ideas in:
- The Canterbury Tales: Fifteen Tales and the General Prologue, ed. Kolve V A and Olson G (2005), Norton Critical Edition, W W Norton, USA.
l.243 a freend, / Withouten gilt … his hous!: The Wife's innocent desire to visit a friend is undercut by the realisation that she is talking about a male ‘friend'.
l.247 And prechest on thy bench, with yvel preef!: The Wife paints a picture of typical misogynistic lecturing, supported by numerous examples.
l.261 Som for hir handes and hir armes smale: This was a highly desirable attribute of medieval women – and one which the robust Wife, a weaver by trade, is less likely to have possessed
l.248-262 Thus goth al to the devel, by thy tale.: The Wife voices her frustration that whatever a woman does or however she looks, she will be in the wrong, echoing the widespread misogyny of the era. However, the Wife's own handling of the topic makes us re-assess her perspective. She claims that her husbands have been making sweeping attacks on women in general. In fact the husbands seem to be silent in the narrative. These accusations turn out to be charges that she has attributed to them when they were drunk. Thus the dominant Wife takes total control of the narrative of the marriage/s.
l.267, 269 For as a spaynel / grey goos: The status of women is conveyed by their comparison to animals and later to household goods.
l.277 Moote thy welked nekke be tobroke!: The Wife appears to lose control of her carefully constructed diatribe, undermining its effectiveness.
l.278 droppyng houses … / And chidyng wyves maken men to flee: The Wife quotes her husband(s) quoting Jerome's version of Proverbs 27:15.
l.304,307 For his crispe heer, shynynge as gold so fyn, … / I wol hym noght: Chaucer creates a comic contrast between the Wife's admiring description of Janekyn and her vehement protestation that she would never marry him.
Chaucer the poet
282-3: we wyves wol oure vices hide
Til we be fast, and thanne we wol hem shewe,
291-2: Til [wyves] be wedded …
And thanne, seistow, we wol oure vices shewe.
Chaucer draws attention to the way in which the Wife's husbands feel cheated, by:
- repeating with variation the balanced couplets
- juxtaposing ‘hide' and ‘shewe'
- repeating vocabulary (‘wyves', ‘thanne', ‘vices')
- using caesura to emphasise ‘thanne', creating a ‘before and after' effect
l.304 And yet of oure apprentice: Notice how Chaucer slips in the impact of Janekyn of the shining gold hair very quickly in 5 lines, and the comic touch of rhyming the end of his name with ‘so fyn.'
Investigating misogyny in l.235-307
- Chaucer constructs the Wife's speech to articulate many misogynist ideas in this section. Some of these familiar medieval stereotypes are voiced by her as the accusations she claims (falsely) that her husband(s) made.
- Can you identify the lines where Chaucer gives the Wife points to express of her own, which suggest a negative view of women?
- To what extent would you regard Chaucer's representation of the Wife in this section as anti-feminist?
- Justify your attitude to the Wife in this section.
- English Standard Version
- King James Version
1Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. 2Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. 3A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool's provocation is heavier than both. 4Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? 5Better is open rebuke than hidden love. 6Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. 7One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet. 8Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home. 9Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. 10Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away. 11Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him who reproaches me. 12The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. 13Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger, and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress. 14Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing. 15A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike; 16to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in one's right hand. 17Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. 18Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored. 19As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. 20Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man. 21The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise. 22Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his folly will not depart from him. 23Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds, 24for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations? 25When the grass is gone and the new growth appears and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered, 26the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field. 27There will be enough goats' milk for your food, for the food of your household and maintenance for your girls.
1Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. 2Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. 3A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both. 4Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? 5Open rebuke is better than secret love. 6Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. 7The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. 8As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place. 9Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. 10Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off. 11My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me. 12A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished. 13Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. 14He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. 15A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. 16Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself. 17Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. 18Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured. 19As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. 20Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied. 21As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise. 22Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. 23Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. 24For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation? 25The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. 26The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. 27And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.
Biblical scholar and main translator of the Vulgate
A pause, often indicated in text by a comma or full stop, during a line of blank verse.
