The Powerful Marriage In The Wife Of Bath's Tale

The Wife of Bath had five husbands, and she believes that women should have all the power in the marriage. This is very important to her tale, and the Wife of Bath shows just how smart she was, manipulating her

She believes that women should have absolute power over their marriage. Sovereignty is one of her significant values. Throughout the tale it is apparent that the storyteller still has those same beliefs. During the knight’s quest to acquire the answer, he finds an old lady. This older woman holds the answer he had been searching for. She will tell him the solution if, he promises her one thing. He is to do as she says, if she is ever to need anything. After presenting the answer that the old lady gave him, his life was spared. As a result the old lady asks the knight to marry her. Disgust filled the knight however, he had no choice. In this case the older woman had the power over the knight. The knight had to abide by her request. His negative attitude towards the old lady does not go unnoticed. A preposition if then offered to the knight. The old lady can stay old and loyal or become beautiful and treacherous. Power is rooted in the woman and not the man. The knight has the choice but no sense of ability to change her. The Wife of Bath’s made it clear that she believed women should be in command. It is decided that the old lady will turn beautiful and remain

that he never went to hell (272). She clearly valued sex as the most important attribute of a husband for, “…in our bed he was so fresh and gay….Heaven knows whenever he wanted it- my belle chose-, thought he had beaten me in every bone…”(272) Even though her final husband had beaten her, because he was good in bed with her she felt she loved him the best of them all (272). Clearly, The Wife of Bath valued three things in her marriages, sex, power, and money. In her tale we find that power is an important role to women in marriage. A knight, after raping a women is spared by a queen (282) but in order to save his life, he has one year (283) to find, “What is the thing that women most desire”(282)? After searching, he finds no answer but on his way home finds an old women who promises she will save him, he must promise to do what she asks of him after however, and he agrees (285). When he and the old lady meet with the queen, he exclaimed, “A women want’s the self-sovereignty over her husband as over her lover, and master him; he must not be above her” (286). This answer is perfectly inline with The Wife of Baths views, she always wants to be more powerful than her husband. When the old lady says he must marry her, he protests but soon she offers him two choices, he can have her be old and ugly till she dies, but loyal, or she can be young and pretty and take chance that she might not remain faithful (291). He gives his answer to be that she may choose, thus giving her the

The many references to emotional physical interaction between men and women was how the Wife of Bath justifies her marriages. She did what she needed to do for survival and get what she wanted for herself.

He does not submit to her at all,he fights with her for the control. She explains that she loved him the most out of all the husbands: “My fifth and last-God keeps his soul in health!The one i took for love and not for wealth”(272). This one she married for the love and admits to that because all the other four husbands were for the money. She also has this fact about her that she is partly deaf because of her fifth husband beating her with a book: “ Reading this cursed book, all night no doubt, I suddenly grabbed and tore three pages out/ Then like a maddened lion,with a yell he started up and smote me on the head”(279). The fact that she talks about how she loved him the most, but he abused her is interesting. Her fifth husband, Johnny did not let her be the master in their relationship. She liked this game they were playing on the fight for control. The book he was reading was talking about of biblical stories that had to do with women. These stories were diminishing women in a way. As the wife of bath comes off as the spokesperson for women this became very insulting to her. But she still says he was the one she loved the

In The Wife of Bath’s Tale and Prologue and The Franklin’s Tale, the central theme is the relationship between man and woman. There are different views of this relationship or marriage in these two tales: either the woman has the power in the marriage granted from her husband, or the husband and wife grant each other power in the marriage so neither dominates.

The Wife of Bath pursued husbands in a way that did not benefit both sides of the marriage. She clearly admits that she does not show shame from having sexual relations with many different men, as she simply desires sex and riches from wealthy men. Medieval civilizations did not consider this behavior appropriate, as it conflicted with ideas of courtly love and God’s word. She states that, “I am dominated by the planet Venus in my senses, and my heart is dominated by the planet Mars” (Chaucer 626). This statement supports that her body and desires only seek pleasure, while her true soul remains conflicted, unable to truly love. At the end of each marriage she appears as the one who reigns victorious and still willing to remarry: “I boast of one thing for myself; in the end I had the better in every way” (430). The Wife does not have respect for her multiple wedded spouses, and would rather remain happy when they leave her than to flood herself with emotion of sadness.

The fourth one was “bad” because this husband cheated on her. Her last husband Johnny, "the one I took for love and not for wealth…"(339), was bad because Dame Alice handed her power to her husband along with all of her money and land. He last husband also became abusive towards her, leaving her deaf in one ear. The Wife of Bath’s prologue proves that that she is only happy when she maintains complete dominance over her partner.

The wife of baths tale takes place during a pilgrimage in the mid-14()0s, during such a time when not all women were ladies but being polite, noble and kind was fundamental at the time of this stories portrayment. The wife of bath's tale depicts a not so spoken element of a widowed women that's in an endless pursuit of pleasure. The first line of the first page states that "Experience, though no authority." Her many men she's wedded has given her a seasoning of knowledge that can't be learned from

In "The Wife of Bath's Tale", sovereignty is the major subject that is dealt with in the marriage situation. The knight, in search of the correct answer of what women most desire in life, stumbles upon an old hag with the answer. In exchange for the answer, the knight is forced to marry the woman. The woman desires sovereignty over her husband, which is selfish and inconsiderate.

The Wife of Bath apparently attempts to emphasize female dominance over men. She contradicts many of the harsh customs and declares her own haughty assessment of women’s function in society and in relationships. In the story, Chaucer explains that what women want is sovereignty over their husbands. According to the tale, women desire to be treated as masters over their love. The story also suggests that

Wealth and property feature heavily in the wife’s portrayal of marriage and along with the issue of her independence is responsible for many of her marital conflicts. The first three husbands "riche and olde" were married each for "hir land and hir tresoor" then discarded as the Wife looks for other prospects. When one of these husbands tries to restrict the Wife’s spending she refuses to let him be both "maister of my body and of my good" so refuses sexual favours in return for her freedom as she will not become a mere possession. She generalizes that women "love no man that taketh or keepth charge" suggesting an element of independence and individualism in 14th century marriage. The wife resents being controlled; she

Her self-proclaimed wisdom and experience makes her justly and to a certain extent credible enough to stand in the position that she does that is as heroine of her time. The Wife of Bath's Prologue is lengthy but everything said is important and captures a prime image of who the Wife of Bath truly is but also the society women are dealing with. Also her prologue retaliates against the problems of inferiority of women at hand. She does her best to defend herself for her life occurrences as well as preserving the merit of women. She explains "a sensible woman only busies herself to win love were there's none"(177), although one may say that this is a negative way for a woman to gain power .The positive note is that the wife of Bath cares to give the only advise she knows that has worked for her. The fact that the Wife of Bath cares about sharing advice in a sense that will cost women a chance to gain power ,cancels out the seven deadly sin of greed in her character.

The Wife of Bath's actions also stem from her strong greed and need for control. That particular husband, her fifth one, was the only one she could not control. The desperate guilt he feels after hitting her, puts her in an excellent bargaining position. While lying on the floor she puts on a dramatic act of self-pity to make him feel even worse, and later describes: "He gave the bridle completely into my hand" (219).

The Wife of the Bath begins her tale about discussing how she was married more than five times. At the age of 12, she was married for the first time, but this was not the only marriage she had to experience. It’s believed that she is not making meaningful choices between the men she chooses to marry. The wife of the bath perception exposes how her insecurities is why her purpose of a marriage is not applicable. Alyson’s physical appearance of having a gap between her teeth, and enjoying the desire of marriage and sex is what makes her an unique character. This woman is not a fool when being portrayed as the professional wife from the author’s perception of her. Alyson struggles within her past relationships expresses how she is not a typical interpretation of a feminist icon.