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Library's collection Library's IT development CancelThis thesis is a study on the sovereignty in marriage in
the three tales of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales: "The Wife of
Bath's Tale," "The Clerk's Tale," and "The Franklin's Tale."
Those three tales suggest that sovereignty in marriage can be
held by the husband, the wife, or not be held by both of them.
From this condition, it is assumed that there must be factors
that lead to those three ideas of sovereignty. This thesis,
therefore, analyze3 the characters of each tale to reveal the
factors that cause the differences on the idea of sovereignty.
Besides, this thesis also aims to analyze how each couple deals
with the sovereignty in their marriage. The analysis, then,
reveals that one's position, one's experience, or one's love
,
for his spouse, as the external factor and one's character
trait or one's age, as the internal factor can determine who
will hold the sovereignty. Furthermore, through the analysis,
it is found out that the sovereign deals with his/her
sovereignty differently. The sovereign husband in "The Clerk's
Tale" applies his sovereignty on his wife by testing her for
several times; on the contrary, the Wife of Bath in "The Wife
of Bath's Tale" holds the sovereignty in her marriages without
applying it. Meanwhile, as neither Arveragus nor Dorigen, the
couple in "The Franklin's Tale," holds the sovereignty in their
marriage, they, in turn, take the sovereignty to help each
other. Finally, this thesis also reveals the importance of
love as a way to solve the sovereignty matter.