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A2 OCR English Lit - Compare Tis pity she's a whore & the wife of bath

Hello, I have an exam based on king Lear plus these two novels, however king Lear is a seperate question. What I am struggling with is making comparisons between Tis Pity and The Wife Of Bath. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated!

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Reply 1

amityriot

Original post by Johnny794

Hey, i'm doing 'Tis pity and Wife of Bath also - this is my first post on TSR and I thought trying to help you might help me revise also :P

Firstly I guess it goes without saying that both the Wife and the siblings are challenging the established order of their respective societies - The Wife through her confrontation of misogyny in society; dominating her husbands, having multiple husbands etc. And the siblings obviously confront the taboo of incest in their society through their relationship, as well as the notion of marriage (and how necessary it is to be married for women of the time), additionally they are also unconventional due to the adultery involved (in regards to Annabella/Soranzo/Giovanni) and the extramarital sex.

How rooted misogyny is in both the society of 'Tis Pity and the Wife of Bath is something both texts have in common - and consequently something that both writers question in their work. Misogyny in the Wife of Bath is explored chiefly through the actions of conventional society and of the Wife in challenge to each other. For example, the way in which the Wife unconventionally dominates the majority of her husbands and offers her sexuality as a medium of exchange, and the way which this is so explicitly unconventional compared to the norm in society. Also, the misogyny ingrained in society - for example the book which one of the Wife's husbands reads from stating that "Women are the confusion of all man" among other misogynistic concepts. In 'Tis Pity misogyny is rife throughout - the treatment of Annabella as such an object, for her sexuality, the treatment of Putana, as well as the condemnation and demise of Annabella; the blame for the incest and adultery, whilst Giovanni and other male characters are not punished in the same way.

Thats a few things just off the top of my head for 'Tis Pity and Wife of Bath, pretty much the ideas i've been learning about are challenging the established order/conventionality, misogyny, importance of marriage, presentation of women etc. Hope this helps pal :biggrin:

Reply 2

LC1194

I have my exam on Thursday :frown:

quite nervous.
I'm doing the Tempest for one section and Tis Pity and Wife Of Bath for the other.
The themes i've been given were:
Love
Marriage
Self Destruction
Sex
Women

And the Other Critics we used were:
Tony Slade WOB
Derek Pearsall WOB
Paul Cantor TIS PITY
N.W Bawcutt TIS PITY
Clifford Leech TIS PITY
Marion Lomax TIS PITY

Reply 3

LC1194

Also don't forget you get a choice of over 5 questions.. so i'm sure you will find a topic that you feel confident to answer. There is only so much they can ask! :biggrin:

A2 OCR English Lit - Compare Tis pity she's a whore & the wife of bath

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