The following passage is found in The Wife of Bath's Tale
"Thus the wise poet of the Florentines,
Dante by name, has written in these lines,
For such is the opinion Dante launches:
'Seldom arises by these slender branches
Prowess of men, for it is God, no less,
Wills us to claim of Him our Gentleness.'
For of our parents nothing can we claim
Save temporal things, and these may hurt and maim.
Here we have an allusion to Dante (a famous Italian poet), do some quick research on him and explain how this quote relates to the crones explanation to her new husband.
Add a comment to this post with your answer.
She's saying that material objects are only temporary, "nothing we can claim".
ReplyDeleteShe is saying that material objects can hurt you or leave you with pain, that you should not look for material objects because they are not always the way to go for. She says tries to explain that good things are not always material objects, in her perspective she is trying to make him understand that even though she is ugly she still save his life and should appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteHe is saying that you should be grateful for what you have and that things don't always go as planned , and sometimes you'll be hurt.
ReplyDeleteShe is trying to say that people should not focus in the material objects because they are not always as good as we thought or are not going to help us in the right way. The material things are not as important as we think. She is telling him this to make him understand that he should stop focusing in the fact that she is ugly and old and be thankful to her because she save his life.
ReplyDeleteShe's saying that the way things look aren't always what they seem. Material things aren't as important as apreciating what you have.
ReplyDeleteSaying to appreciate the temporary things because they won't last
ReplyDeleteShe is saying how rotten he is. He isn't showing the qualities of a true knight who should be 'prowess' and 'gentle'. This was my interpretation of the quote: she said the quote because she was letting him know that a woman like her who is old and has long 'slender' arms doesn't come around 'prowess men' that often, men who have bravery. Knights should be like this and she is stating how she doesn't see anyone near a knight in him, no where near noble or 'gentle'. He is no gentleman at all, and we have the power to choose whether if we want to be gentle or not, we just get the trait from God who showed it all to us when he sent his son to free us from sin (Biblical allusion) that was true gentleness. Having a trait of gentleness is internal and no matter if you are 9 or 99 you can be the same class of 'gentle'. We better choose to focus on those internal things because we have nothing else to claim except our physical features from our parents. You might be the most beautiful person on earth but the fact is looks are 'temporal' which means that they are limited to time. So as you get older an older, you lose these traits and soon ALL you have left is to be gentle (or any other internal traits), and that is what the crone is trying to teach the knight. In the quote 'prowess man' refers to a knight, and it is simply stating how a knight ('no less' so if anyone only knights) should be as gentle as God, who showed us exactly how to be gentle.
ReplyDeleteThe crone is saying that we should only claim gentleness which is a true blessing. Not things such as position, power, or noble lineage, since in the end these are only temporary. If you solely focus on these things, you often fail to see the good in people. Your judgment becomes "maimed".
ReplyDeleteMaterial things are not everything in this world. Caring about each other is more important.
ReplyDeleteObjects may not always last forever
ReplyDeleteMaterials are worthless if you earn them with dishonor and that feeling superior makes you inferior.
ReplyDeleteIt teaches you to know that material stuff isn't everything in this world, sometimes we tend to over look more on the material stuff rather than the real happines
ReplyDeleteThe crow is saying that the knight should uphold his expected principles and not be so materialistic.
ReplyDeleteThings aren't always what they seem, nothing lasts forever.
ReplyDelete