Compare the Use of Verbal Wit in the Wife of Bath and the Rivals

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Dominance is a key theme throughout both texts. In The Rivals, Mrs Malaprop can be seen as a dominate figure over her niece Lydia over words. Mrs Malaprop, when talking about Enson Beverly and Lydia, says “he’ll get my consent to see her” When confronting Lydia about Absolute, Mrs Malaprop addresses her with the line “I am inpatient to know the little hussy deports herself” This shows the dominance she possess by calling Lydia a “hussy.” Throughout the play, Mrs M is portrayed as a strong traditionalist and likes to follow the rules, a clear contrast to Lydia. Lydia uses books to escape from the reality of Mrs Malaprop. She reads Peregrine Pickle, Roderick Random and Mrs Chapone. All of these book are saturated reading. One of the first things she says to Mrs M is “Our memories are independent of our wills” an example to show that she is reading saturated reading to escape reality from her. This is a clear sign of dominance from Mrs M because it is creating a reaction from Lydia. Similar to this, the Wife can be seen as dominate throughout her first three husbands. “ Unnethe myghte they the statut holde, In which that they were bounden unto me.” Translated she is saying that she had control of her first three husbands. We know she was controlling and dominate because she says “ They had me yeven hir lond and hir tresoor, Me neded nat do lenger diligence.” She is saying they gave me their land and treasure so as a result, she diddnt need to work because she had everything. Similar to Mrs M therefore, this is a clear sign of dominance because it forces a reaction from certain individuals.

In conclusion, throughout both texts, there is a clear showing of verbal wit by certain individuals. Its due to this verbal wit that different themes are portrayed. Dominance, humor and wit itself. It can be argued that different time periods can cause these themes to have differing issues but, never the less both texts contain characters that portray verbal wit who get what they want, whether its for themselves or the benefit of other people.