Comparison between The Prioress and Wife of Bath
The Canterbury Tales is exactly what its title states. It's a tale about a group of men and women, some devout Christians, some corrupted to the core, who depart on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, under the guidance of the Host of the Tabard Inn.In The General Prologue, Chaucer introduces each of the twenty-nine characters of The Canterbury Tales. Within this group, there are two women that draw particular attention. The first woman is a Prioress and second is the "Wife from beside Bath" who is partially deaf. The Prioress, being the head of a convent, is a religious woman and, apart from her accompanying nun, the wife of bath is the only other female pilgrim. Although these women might have similarities that are evident in the story, deeper down, the Wife of Bath and the Nun's Prioress are two completely different characters. The prioress and wife of bath belong to two different social classes. They represent two extremes of life, one that is totally religious and other totally worldly. The Prioress belongs to the withdrawn life of prayer and god, vowed to poverty and chastity and indifferent to the vanities of the world. Strictly speaking, she should not have been on this pilgrimage at all because of her vows and the Prioress also keeps pet dogs and exposes her forehead which should have been veiled if I know nuns and the way they are supposed to dress correctly. On the
The Necklace
The Necklace Set in the Nineteenth Century Paris. The two main characters are Mathilde and Monsieur Loisel are dearly defined Mathilde was pretty, delightful but had no dowry, no expectations of marrying well because of this fact but nevertheless had aspirations to be more than she would become Mathilde married Monsieur Loisel as she had "No means of meeting some rich, important man who would understand love and marry her." So when Monsieur Loisel a junior clerk of the Ministry of Education Proposed she accepted. Mathilde was unhappy all of the time as she felt she was intended for something better life a higher social position of refinement and luxury. Mathilde noticed the peeling paint the run-down apartment the lack of furniture to the point of depression and anger. Monsieur Loisel however was more of an optimistic who made the best of things one example of this is when he sits at the table and declared delightedly "Ah, Stew! Splendid!" Mathilde dreams of elegant dinners, expensive tableware, exotic tapestries adorning the walls. Mathilde is a very discontented woman instead of using her energy to change her current circumstances, she uses what energy she has lamenting how hard done by she really is or perceives she is. When her husband tries to surprise her with a night out instead of being happy that it would make a nice change Mathilde can only
The buddha of suburbia
The buddha of suburbia The title of this book may ring bells with some people who haven't read it, as it was made into a BBC drama series in 1993. More importantly it won the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel in 1990. Hanif Kureishi (HK from now on) is probably better known for his 2 excellent films, My Beautiful Launderette, and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid. Well, I think so anyway, because I've seen them, and I didn't see The Buddha of Suburbia. Subjective stuff, I know, but what the heck, it's Thursday, an anniversary of sorts for me as coincidentally it's the day I was born on. This is HKs' debut novel, and it is sublime, well worthy of winning prizes, which is why I mustered up the energy to try and write about it. It's the sort of book that should be thrust upon people, I'm going to buy all my relatives a copy for Christmas. Mm, maybe not, it cost £6.99. Definite school syllabus stuff though as it covers so many social issues in a humorous, sartorial and self-deprecating fashion that is rare in contemporary fiction. Only it's not really contemporary, as the story runs from about 1971 through to the arrival of Ma Thatcher at No 10 (1979, for you young 'uns). However, it felt contemporary to me, as HK makes you feel like you're there. The central character of the tale is Karim Amir, Creamy to his friends, a 17 year-old Englishman (Though not proud of it), who has an Indian
