Introduction + Paragraph 1 of Essay

Compare and Contrast the ways in which Chaucer and Atwood portray the characters of Serena Joy and The Wife of Bath.

Geoffrey Chaucer and Margret Atwood portray two female characters in their books “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue & Tale” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” respectively. The writers as well as the characters they write about both come from different cultural backgrounds and time periods but have similarities in their characters which are apparent through the writer’s language choices. In this essay, the portrayal of The Wife of Bath and Serena Joy by their writer’s will be explored through character analysis.

In “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” and “The Handmaid’s Tale”, The Wife and Serena Joy are similar in character because they are both manipulative. They use their manipulation in different ways and for different outcomes. The Wife manipulates her husbands to get her own way and the things that she wants whether it is tangible or intangible. The Wife says,

"Baar I stifly mine olde housbondes on honde

That thus they seyden in her dronkenesse;

And al was fals, but that I took witnesse.

...O Lord! the peyne I dide hem and the wo

Ful gilteless, by Goddes sweet pine!"

The quote means that the Wife had her husband where she wanted, lied to them, caused them pain and did not feel guilty about it. This open admittance of her manipulation shows that she does not care about her husband’s emotions but only her own as it benefits her. The verb, pain, connotes that she caused physical pain or hurt which suggests that what she does to her husband is hurtful and inconsiderate. Her tone is very casual and unmoved by what she is admitting. The Wife’s manipulation links with the idea of having mastery over her husbands and overall her marriages as she has to tell them lies while they are drunk and feeling no remorse against this. The reaction of the reader is that the Wife is very confident about herself in terms of the relationship she has with her husband considering that she is telling an audience on a pilgrimage that she is this was with her husband. Similarly, in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Serena Joy manipulates others around her as well for her personal gain."Maybe you should try it another way...Another man, she says...Maybe I could get something for you...A picture...Of her...Your little girl. But only maybe". The quotation means that Serena Joy was directing Offred, who is her handmaid, to have sexual intercourse with the household’s guard in order for her to procreate for herself and husband. The offering to Offred, a picture of her daughter, acts as an incentive or a tease to give in and have sexual intercourse with Nick. The repetition of the adverb, maybe, illustrates that Serena is ‘stringing along’ Offred in order for her to get the baby which will make her happy and will also get her a little light in the social scene in society. This manipulation seems to the reader that it is desperation for Serena to have a child because she deceives her husband therefore defying societies’ values and also the values of marriage. Although, the Wife and Serena Joy both manipulate people around them for different reasons their approaches to it are for personal gain.