In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath” and Giovanni Boccaccio’s “Federigo’s Falcon”, the authors examine the roles of femininity in the medieval and middle ages through contrasts in perspectives of love, value of marriage, and value of sacrifices. In the “Wife of Bath”, Alisoun sees love as an empowerment of women. She’s had a collection of five marriages, where she tends to use the power of sex to lure men in. Although anti-femininity is a huge theme throughout the story, men are still expected to cater to their woman even though they are seen as a man’s waste of time. Alisoun believes that to have “won the mastery” is to “choose and rule as [she] thinks fit”(149). Sexual assault is an issue that makes women feel insecure and in danger, and …show more content…
Although “Wife of Bath's” Alisoun is a maneater, she believes that love cannot be determined by wealth. “He who accepts his poverty unhurt I’d say is rich although he lacked a shirt”(148), she claims. Poverty has no dishonor with it, as this was their chance with Fate from God, as God has ordained some people of society to live in poverty because their “Heavenly King would never stoop to choose a shameful thing”(148). In “Federigo’s Falcon”, it shows that women of that society, such as Monna, do not engage in promiscuous intercourse or multiple marriages. Women are not swayed by wealth or poverty, but by the character of the man. A good deed, in the end, shows that that is much more powerful than possessions. Monna decides to marry Federigo, as no man could have done such a worthy and moral thing for a woman. Although Federigo is still poor in the end, Monna believes that she “would rather have a man who needs money than money that needs a man”(165). Federigo was rich in heart, which was enough for …show more content…
In “Wife of Bath”, she sacrifices her stereotype and accepts that men and society will always degrade women. She sacrifices her reputation in return for the things she values most in life; even if that is being married all the time. Being her true self allows her to attract men who are noble and love her for who she truly is. In “Federigo’s Falcon”, sacrifices show that love for anything else is not comparable to the true love for a woman. Federigo was willing to give any possession to Monna to make her love him, even if he loved the item. He was so poor that he worried just himself would not be enough. Monna, sacrifices her pride and dignity by going and asking a nobleman for his most prized possession, just so her son would heal. “How can I be so heartless as to deprive so noble a man of his one remaining pleasure?”(163) Monna asks herself, questioning if this is truly something she was willing to do. She was “forced, contrary to [her own] wishes and to all the rules of decorum and propriety, to ask [Federigo] for something to which [she knew] [he was] deeply attached”(163). In the end, even though Monna was left empty handed, and Federigo had been dealt bad by fate, he still earned what he deserved due to the courtliness of his actions. He “lived with her in happiness to the end of his