Canterbury Tales: Wife of Bath Analysis

Canterbury Tales: Wife of Bath Analysis Prioress and Wife of Bath Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a frozen picture of life in the Middle Ages. Chaucer places his characters on a pilgrimage, a religious journey made to a shrine or holy place. They are traveling on horseback from London to the shrine of martyr Saint Thomas a Becket at Canterbury. Chaucer has very opinionated views of the manners and behaviors of women and expresses it strongly in the Tale. In his collection of Tales, he portrays two extremes in his prospect of women. The Wife of Bath represents the extravagant and lusty woman where as the Prioress represents the admirable and devoted follower of church. Chaucer delineates the two characters contrastingly in their appearances, general manners, education and most evidently in their behavior toward men. Two female characters in Canterbury Tales portray themselves differently to what would be expected of their class and status. The Wife of Bath represents â€Å"liberal† extreme in regards to female stereotypes of the Middle Ages. Unlike most women being anonymous during the middle Ages, she has a mind of her own and voices herself. Furthermore, she thinks extremely highly of herself and enjoys showing off her Sunday clothes. Because of her obnoxious attitude, Chaucer makes her toothless, fat and large. The Prioress on the other hand, serves as a foil to the Wife of Bath. Chaucer describes her as a â€Å"tender-hearted† (154) who cannot bear the sight of pain or physical suffering. â€Å"She used to weep if she but saw a mouse caught in a trap, if it were dead or bleeding† (148-9). Chaucer paints a very delicate and elegant picture of the Prioress. Chaucer describes her table manners as very â€Å"graceful, not a drop of anything would fall from her mouth, and she was very polite when talking things at the tale† (131-134). Chaucers last description of Prioress the letter â€Å"A † around her neck that stood for â€Å"Amour vincit omnia† (166) meaning â€Å"Lover Conquers all.† The symbol that she wore showed that she is perfect and obviously a representation of what most men of that time wanted but they couldnt have her. Accordingly, the Wife of Bath is daunting, ostentatious, and ugly. She is nothing in comparison to the Prioress who is elegant, well mannered and above all loving. The Prioresss superiority over the Wife of Bath is shown again in the presence of education. The Wife of Bath has traveled a great deal and seems knowledgeable about things of the world. She brings up many valid points throughout the prologue, but Chaucer voids her opinion because of her social class and looks, when in truth she is actually wise. On the contrary, the Prioress is considered â€Å"scholastic† and high class due to her good manners. Her ability to speak French puts her character in a higher class category. Thus, once again the Prioress is considered intelligent. Wife of Baths action and thinking not only differ from the Prioress, but almost from everyone else in the Middle Ages. The Wife of Bath is radical especially when it comes to relationship with men. She is characterized as knowing much about love, which is illustrated by her physical description being gap-toothed, which symbolizes â€Å"sexual accomplishment.† Its interesting how the Wife of Bath is always striving to have sovereignty and the Prioress was granted sovereignty even though she didnt seek for it intentionally. The Wife of Bath and the Prioress alike have power over men once again this characterization would scare men. The Prioress, as her name suggests is a â€Å"superior being in a monastic community for women† is so important that â€Å"three priests were in her company† (168); as this shows her status as the boss, which would be fearful for men at that time. Early in the tale, there is a quotation by the Wife of Bath supporting the idea of mens fear. â€Å"I dont deny that I will have my husbands both my debtor and my slave, and as long as I am his wife he shall suffer in the flesh. I will have command over his body during all of his life, not he.† In other words she is saying that she will have total control over herself, her husband, and their household. Wife of Bath has a choice of not giving in to the man, but she decides to let the man have pleasure for his desire not hers. Because from her past experience, she knows how much men enjoy when women are submissive . Ironically, â€Å"She (Prioress) was all sentiment† (154), this is shown through her use of the Jew as the villain of her tale. However, there is no historical evidence of ritual murder of Christian children by Jews, but that would have not mattered to the pilgrims. This tale also reinforces her devotion to the church and this characterization can be seen as a fear to some men as they are unable to obtain her. This is the only time we see that Chaucer is telling us that the Prioress is not as perfect as she might have first seemed. She is basically a fake. A Prioress should take care of people but instead in Canterbury Tales, â€Å"she had little dogs,† (150) which was against the rules of the Church. She also loved to show off her dress, which is not something a nun would do. Chaucer now contrasts feelings in the Prioress with senses of the Wife of Bath. Prioress embodies fastidious sensibility. The Wife of Bath is the pole of elemental vitality. Prioress is â€Å"simple and coy† (123) and she never curses. However, she subtly violates the laws of her order by keeping pets, overdressing and taking on to a pilgrimage. On the other hand, Wife of Baths aggressiveness demonstrates of her instincts, appetites and will. She makes the institutions of Church: pilgrimage and marriage serve to her temperament. Chaucer developed two basic traits of her; Experience and desire for mastery. Its interesting to know that how Chaucer manipulates the mode of medieval romance with Prioress physically resembling a romance heroine, and the Wife of Bath is used in a romantic setting in Canterbury Tales. Both ways of using romance are connected with irony. Religious issues bring up another interesting contrast between the Wife of Bath and Prioress. Wife of Bath embodies empirical knowledge of facts; the Prioress embodies blind religious faith. Chaucer is trying to educate women through these tales, and say that there are times that one should be a feminist and times one should be not. In his compare and contrast, he shows in both women what men fear. Wife of Bath is excessively sex appealing, and the Prioress is generally filled with feelings. As we all know by now, that both of the womans are not what they seem to be, but they are the opposite of their class and status.

Enviromental Change – Transboundary Pollution

Chapter 10 – Transboundary pollution page 120 Aim of this lesson To be able to describe one major pollution event affecting more than one country and examine the consequences of and responses to this event. View together ‘’It happened in Chernobyl’ Part 1 and Part 2 – discuss http://www. youtube. com/watch? feature=player_embedded&v=b11aWXkehtY http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=BwMdh2SZ5-k&feature=player_embedded Using – * Consequences in more than one country http://www. grida. o/graphicslib/detail/the-continental-scale-of-the-chernobyl-accident_12e3 * The Torch report http://www. chernobylreport. org/? p=summary * THE GUARDIAN – Affects of Chernobyl explained http://www. guardian. co. uk/environment/2009/may/12/effects-chernobyl-uk-farmers 1. Annotate an outline map of Europe (enlarged to A3 size) with the consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster. Try and include impacts in at least 4 different countries and for a range of time sca les. 1. Complete the table with as much detail as you can –Responses to the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster at a range of scales| Short-Term| Long-Term| National [within Russia / Ukraine]| * People must be evacuated from area * Many â€Å"instant† deaths from radiation poisoning * Later deaths from radiation poisoning * Deadly radiation poisoning from nuclear fallout/radioactive cloud spreading * Widespread panic and fear| * Radioactive land becomes uninhabitable for many years * Birth defects in the generation after the incident due to lingering radiation poisoning in gametes * Distrust of nuclear power as a renewable energy source * Radiation poisoning causes health problems in the future| International| * Deadly radiation poisoning from nuclear fallout/radioactive cloud spreading * Widespread panic and fear| *    Birth defects in the generation after the incident due to lingering radiation poisoning in Enviromental Change – Transboundary Pollution Chapter 10 – Transboundary pollution page 120 Aim of this lesson To be able to describe one major pollution event affecting more than one country and examine the consequences of and responses to this event. View together ‘’It happened in Chernobyl’ Part 1 and Part 2 – discuss http://www. youtube. com/watch? feature=player_embedded&v=b11aWXkehtY http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=BwMdh2SZ5-k&feature=player_embedded Using – * Consequences in more than one country http://www. grida. o/graphicslib/detail/the-continental-scale-of-the-chernobyl-accident_12e3 * The Torch report http://www. chernobylreport. org/? p=summary * THE GUARDIAN – Affects of Chernobyl explained http://www. guardian. co. uk/environment/2009/may/12/effects-chernobyl-uk-farmers 1. Annotate an outline map of Europe (enlarged to A3 size) with the consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster. Try and include impacts in at least 4 different countries and for a range of time sca les. 1. Complete the table with as much detail as you can –Responses to the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster at a range of scales| Short-Term| Long-Term| National [within Russia / Ukraine]| * People must be evacuated from area * Many â€Å"instant† deaths from radiation poisoning * Later deaths from radiation poisoning * Deadly radiation poisoning from nuclear fallout/radioactive cloud spreading * Widespread panic and fear| * Radioactive land becomes uninhabitable for many years * Birth defects in the generation after the incident due to lingering radiation poisoning in gametes * Distrust of nuclear power as a renewable energy source * Radiation poisoning causes health problems in the future| International| * Deadly radiation poisoning from nuclear fallout/radioactive cloud spreading * Widespread panic and fear| *    Birth defects in the generation after the incident due to lingering radiation poisoning in

Bancassurance in Asia

China Traditionally, the main distribution channel for insurance in China has been through agents. However, with the introduction of bancassurance this has changed. The bancassurance models followed in China are distribution and joint ventures. The effect of bancassurance in the first quarter of 2010, was an increase in total premium income to $26. 91 billion, up 44% compared with the same period of 2009, this represents 8% higher compared to the overall insurance industry growth within the same period. Cotham, 2010) The main contributing factors for this trend have been the rapid growth of the Chinese economy leading to higher per capital income and the multiple economic reforms leading foreign companies to enter the insurance industry. In addition, the regulations introduced in 2003 played a major factor for the bancassurance growth. These regulations permitted banks to have multiple insurers as suppliers (â€Å"many-to-many† model).For instance, some major banks worked with 30 different suppliers for life insurance, and as many as 10 for property and casualty insurance. (Paribas, 2012) Although this model created growth, recently it has contributed to the slow down in the bancassurance market. Through this model, numerous complex insurance products were created and offered to clients by bank staff with minimal insurance expertise. As a result, demand decreased due to the lack of consumer understanding of the product and lack of trust.In addition, other major challenges in the bancassurance market are the financial market volatility (which makes insurance products less appealing compared to other wealth management products), intense competition and constant changes in regulations (particularly the introduction of CBRC 90 which prohibits insurance salesman from selling in banks). In turn, sales have declined. For instance, in 2011, sales through the bancassurance channel declined significantly and were blamed for an overall slowdown in premiums growth, from 29 percent to 11. KPMG,2012) India Just as in China, insurance products in India have been sold traditionally through agents. In addition, the insurance industry was entirely monopolized by the public sector. However, since the opening to private companies in the early 2000’s bancassurance through the distribution model has gained market share. In fact, it now accounts for about 25 per cent of new business for private insurers, with trends indicating that the proportion could rise to 40 per cent by the year 2013 (Cotham, 2012).In addition, India’s rapid economy has also played a major factor on bancassurance growth. However, just as China, India faces major challenges. The major challenges are poor manpower management, lack of a sales culture within the bank, no involvement by the branch manager, insufficient product promotions, failure to integrate marketing plans, marginal database expertise, poor sales channel linkages, inadequate incentives, resistance to chan ge, negative attitudes toward insurance and unwieldy marketing strategy. (Sarvanakumar, 2012)

Why Is Molality Used Instead of Molarity

Molality (m) and molarity (M) both express the concentration of a chemical solution. Molality is the number of moles of solute per kilogram of solvent. Molarity is the number of moles of solute per liter of solution. If the solvent is water and the concentration of solute is fairly low (i.e., dilute solution), molality and molarity are approximately the same. However, the approximation fails as a solution becomes more concentrated, involves a solvent other than water, or if it undergoes temperature changes that could change the density of the solvent. In these situations, molality is the preferred method of expressing concentration because the mass of solute and solvent in a solution does not change. When to Use Molality and When to Use Molarity Molality is used any time you expect the solute may interact with the solute and in the following situations: To determine a boiling pointTo determine a melting pointWhen working with colligative properties (boiling point elevation, freezing point depression) Molarity is used for dilute aqueous solutions held at a constant temperature. In general, the difference between molarity and molality for aqueous solutions near room temperature is very small and it wont really matter whether you use a molar or molal concentration. More About the Difference Between Molality and Molarity