Canterbury tAles

Wife of Bath's Tale And Shrek

Shrek and Wife of Bath's Tale - Comparisons and Contrasts

Shrek the Book

The original story of Shrek, by William Steig, published in 1990, is a far cry from the mega-hit Dreamworks movie production with the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithcow. In the original story, Shreck breathes fire, is not a likeable character at all, and he is hideously ugly. He has hairs on his nose and little black marks all over his face - possibly zits, or blackheads. He emerges out of a "black hole" when he leaves his family's abode to go in search of the princess.

He has the ability to heat food with rays from his eyes. The story is told with silly poetry such as the scene when he meets the princess, who is frightfully ugly:

Your nose is so hairy, Oh let is not tarry, your look is so scary, I think we should marry."

Shrek the Movie

But in the Dreamworks film version, which dramatically manipulates the plot, characters, setting, conflict, and tone of the story, Shrek is a more polished character. He is much larger in comparison to others around him than the Shrek in the storybook, but he also is much more sophisticated.

In fact, the film version becomes a very slick parody of Hollywood, and of Disney characters. Viewers see such characters as the seven dwarfs, little red riding hood, and other symbols of Hollywood. Romance and glamour are the themes of this movie.

Shrek in the movie is a hero, a loveable guy who is searching for Princess Fiona, but is challenged by Lord Farquaad, who is so cruel he tortures the Gingerbread Man. Indeed, Lord Farquaad asks the mirror who has the finest kingdom, and the mirror tells him the three most beautiful women who can be his bride. They are Cinderella, Snow White, and Princess Fiona. The movie becomes a hilarious parody when the Dating Game theme is used for Farquaad to help determine which of the three women he shall go after.

What was Chaucer's purpose in The Wife of Baths's Tale?

The Prologue of The Wife of Bath's Tale is longer than any other Chaucer prologue, and the theme that the female character (Dame Alison) presents is sexy, humorous, forceful and anti-feminist. She narrates in great and provocative detail about her first five husbands. The reason Chaucer has done this is possibly that he is taking a literary swipe at feminists.

Here he is, a man, writing these tirades from the mouth of a woman. Dame Alison says that if a husband has enough sex with his wife, he then should not worry about "How mirily that othere folks fare," meaning, as long as she spends enough time in bed with him, what does it matter that she sleeps around? The world should judge her not on whether her actions were wrong, but on whether they were effective actions.