Essay on The Wife of Bath as a Feminist

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

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 Wife of Bath character is a woman who had married five times. Of these five husbands she only loved one. On line 195 of the story she stated, “As three of them were good and two were bad. The three men who were good were rich and old.” She did not marry them for love. She was the

The wife of bath stands up for women equality and does not let men push her around. She had five husbands, with each of them she used a technique to get what she wanted. She would blame them for things they did not do, she would make them buy her things and have complete mastery over all of them. With her fifth husband things become rocky with her having the upper hand in the relationship. This is shown through the book that her husband reads which in that book degrades women. She snaps back into this mode of control and stands up for women by tearing the pages out of this book. The wife of bath thinks women should always have mastery in a marriage,this leads her to realize with her fifth husband women get taken for granted and have a bad

The Wife of Bath begins her prologue by explaining that she considers herself an authority of marriage due to her “experience”; the Wife of Bath says, "Experience, though no authority/Were in this world, would be enough for me/To speak of woe that married life affords;/For since I was twelve years of age, my lords,/Thanks be to God eternally alive,/Of husbands at the church door I've had five” (Lines 1-6). Due to her five marriages, she has often been criticized because others have said that Christ went “to a

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 Wife of Bath", in the collection of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, illustrates the stereotypical image of a women in medieval times ("The Portrayal of Gender in The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale.") The tale characterizes women as lustful and greedy burdens on men. However, to readers today, "The Wife of Bath" represents a strong minded feminist woman who is confident and open about her sexuality. Narrated by a character called Alisoun, "The Wife of Bath" reveals an insight to a woman’s point of view in medieval times. Alisoun begins her long prologue by declaring that she follows the rule of experience; announcing that she’s a self–proclaimed women. Throughout the her tale Alisoun questions and challenges the idea of power and authority in medieval society. Through Alisoun, Chaucer gives women a voice to express their call for equality and their need for power. By using description and characterization, Chaucer gives readers an insight to a society in which women are starting to express their desire to have power ultimately arguing that in order for men to be happy women need to have sovereignty in medieval times.

The Wife of Bath’s Tale in the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a very pivotal point in the text. It argues in favor of feminine dominance in marriage in a time where women were always under the skeptical view. The leading example of the medieval skeptical view of women is St. Jerome’s response against Jovinian. It shows how women were more restricted than men and thought to be in the fault for the wrong things that happen to them. Chaucer opposes that stereotype by introducing the Wife of Bath, a very radical character just like the other characters in the Canterbury Tales. The Wife is a very outspoken feminist and justifies her decision to remarry four times. She uses St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and other arguments to undermine the traditional antifeminism arguments, such as St. Jerome’s, against her remarriages.

The Wife of Bath begins the prologue to her tale by boasting of her experience in marriage. She has married five men already, and ignores the idea that this is a reproach to Christian principles. She is merely adhering to the Christian principle of "be fruitful and multiply." She cites the case of King Solomon, who had multiple wives, and tells the group that she welcomes the opportunity for her sixth husband. She also points out that Jesus never lays down a law about virginity, and essentially states that we have the parts for sex and should use them as such. The Pardoner objects to the Wife of Bath's musings on marriage, but she decides to tell

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

There were only two female storytellers in the book. One was “Wife of Bath,” and other was “Prioress”, but Wife of Bath have more experience under her belt than Prioress. Wife of Bath has traveled many places in the world for pilgrimages. Not only has she seen many different people and place, but also she was married for five times. She sees the world and experiences that she had, in the world in two way, which is love and sex. To support her view of love and sex she uses her twisted understanding of the Bibles and from The Canterbury Tales (and The Wife of Bath’s Tale specifically) she states that, “All I know for sure is, God has plainly bidden us to increase and multiply” (page 150). In the “Wife of Bath’s Prologue” in the “The Canterbury Tales” by Chaucer, The Wife of Bath presents a very confusing portrait of a woman in the book. On one hand, she was very vocal about her sexual life and how she uses her sexual powers to

He describes the Wife as a self-confident person who thinks highly of herself and had “been respectable throughout her life” due to her incredible skills as a cloth maker (Chaucer 461). She wore ten pounds of clothing that she wove herself. She loves showing off her cloth making expertise and is not shy at presenting herself in front of other people. Chaucer describes her physical appearance in ways that express a lustful and almost seductive person during this time period. The description of her clothing, legs, feet, hips, and her gap-tooth is an accurate representation of what seemed to attract a man to a lady during this time. She was a very open minded woman who adored the idea of love and marriage which can be proved by her “...five churched husbands bringing joy and strife” (Chaucer 462). She goes on pilgrimages to several different places which gives the impression that she is a devout Christian and portrays her as a religious woman. Chaucer’s description of the Wife of Bath makes the readers think about the other characters in the general prologue and how she is much different than the

The Wife of Bath is a wealthy and elegant woman with extravagant, brand new clothing. She is from Bath, a key English cloth-making town in the Middle Ages, making her a talented seam stress. Before the wife begins her tale, she informs the audience about her life and personal experience on marriage, in a lengthy prologue. The Wife of Bath initiates her prologue by declaring that she has had five husbands, giving her enough experience to make her an expert on marriage. Numerous people have criticized her for having had many husbands, but she does not see anything immoral about it. Most people established negative views on her marriages, based on the interpretation of what Christ meant when he told a Samaritan woman that her fifth husband

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.

This statement demonstrates that the role of women, such as The Wife of Bath’s, was to be a dominant leader of the marriage. She describes her husband as her slaves and debtor,