Wife Of Bath's The Wife Of Bath

The Wife of Bath is a women who knows how society see her and pushes against these boundaries. She knows what men what and she uses her assets to control them. She is a feminist icon in her time period. Women most likely looked up to her for her free spirit. She believes that women have the right to live their lives the way they want too. Whatever they do with their body is THEIR right and they shouldn’t be ridiculed for it. If men have that right, then women should too. She shows the modernized thinking of equality in terms of sexuality that we see

The Wife of Bath uses bible verses in “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.” Further, she employs the verses as an outline of her life to find reason in God to justify her actions. Nevertheless, the purpose of the verses differs within each stanza of the poem. The Wife of Bath is a sexually promiscuous, lustful, and manipulative woman. She marries men one after the other as they get older and die. In order to combat and overthrow the speculation and criticism being thrust upon her by societal norms because of her marriages, the wife turns to specific bible passages to find reason in life and support for her actions (Article Myriad.com). When the wife is having sex quite frequently and with different men she is said to be fruitful and multiplying. According to the wife, this is what she is told to do in the bible passage, which she has misinterpreted. Ironically, The Wife of Bath is using a predominantly male dominated book to back up and support her reasons for women being equal to men (Article Myriad.com). Not only has she referred to the benefits of adultery through the bible, she has also attempted to undermine the power of men in the very same way she has attempted to prove that the genders are equal. From this, it can be interpreted that although the wife claims to be providing evidence for women being equal to men, she is actually saying that women are better than men. She misinterprets the readings of the bible and male written passages on purpose in order to suit her needs.

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

As a wife she uses her instrument as abundantly as her maker gave it. Her husbands may have it whenever they want. Her husband is her debtor and her slave, and she has the power over his own body. (Par 2) The Wife of Bath uses her body and sexual attributes to gain power over her first three husbands as described in the “Prologue”. She uses their lust against them, holding their desires over their heads to get what she desires.

The Canterbury Tales depict many characters that, although fictionally created by Geoffrey Chaucer, may give the reader the opportunity to analyze and interpret their tales as a way of determining their personalities. The Wife of Bath and her prologue accurately supports this statement, as her intentions become expounded due to her questionable actions. The Wife of Bath exhibits in her prologue that she lacks respect and gratitude towards the men she beguiles into marriage and does so by falsely claiming direction from God. She shows not only deceit towards her many husbands, but also does not possess the ability to care about others before herself.

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

The woman in the Wife of Bath loves sex. According to shmoop.com The Wife of Bath, “she was a nicely-dressed, largish woman with gap teeth and a hat as big as a boat. We heard hints that she had numerous lovers before her five husbands and that she was a ton of fun to be around because "in felaweshipe wel koude she laughe and carpe" (476). The wife intends to have sex indiscriminately, with no objective but pleasure. Sure she claims she simply looking for pleasure, like when she insists she has always followed her appetite, whether the man were "short or long, or blak or whyt," rich or poor (729 – 730). But her own accounts of her past relationships suggest that the Wife actually treats sex as something that's for sale. She admits to withholding sex from a husband "til he had maad his raunson unto me" (414), and berating another husband by asking him if he knows how much money her body could fetch on the open market.” the Wife may indeed be lusty, she's also strategic. We see this talent for strategy in two places: 1) in her account of past relationships, in which she always manages to get the upper hand, and 2) in her rhetorical technique, particularly in her defense of marriage in the first 170 lines of her Prologue. She sounds authoritative by quoting from well-recognized Biblical and scholarly texts. The Wife of Bath continues to use these techniques throughout her Prologue, and they have the effect of making her really likable, even when she admits to her worst deceptions.” According to what she said she wins her audience over with humor, encouraging them to imagine Solomon on his wedding night, for example, “She's self-deprecating, readily admitting to being less than perfect spiritually”, but she also sounds authoritative by quoting from recognized Biblical and scholarly texts.

The Wife of Bath's greedy need for complete control over men reflects in most of her actions. She seems proud of this, and constantly describes women as cruel creatures that bring great sorrow to men. When talking about her first three husbands, she says that she "governed them" (193), and "chided them cruelly" (193). She makes life for her husbands a living hell, having no respect for their feelings. Just like the women questioned in her story, she cares only for "riches...amusement...rich apparel...," to be "flattered and pampered," and for "pleasure in bed" (225). When talking of her first three marriages, she says: "Since they had given me all their land, why should I take pains to please them, unless it be for my own profit and pleasure" (192). In her story, the moral is that all women want to hold the whip in a relationship, and it is in the man's best interest to let them do so. The Wife of Bath is not a woman to be admired and, worst of all, she insists all

The Wife of Bath contains three issues that were pretty extreme for the women of the time period. The negative connotation linked with the women and sex is the first one, the second is the position of husband and wife in marriages that leave the women submissive and the men in control, and third is the violence done by men to women. The seriousness of these issues were not discussed at all by men and most certainly not by women. The fact that the Wife of Bath brought up such issues and promoted the ideas of women in these situations was profound. The wife is smart in her delivery in both the Prologue and Tale. The Tale restates all of the subjects of marriage, violence, and sex that she first brings up in the Prologue, and

Beginning with the prologue, the Wife of Bath makes an argument for why she believes sexuality is the key weapon to use against men to achieve her goals. Doing such, she twists the typical gender roles of the time; that women are dependent upon their husbands and need a partner for protection and wealth. The Wife also shows in her stories how she was able to falsely accuse men and continuously hold the upper hand with them, which goes against traditional gender roles of the time of women being helpless without a husband.

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’s tale suits her prologue because it exhibited her views on marriage and matches her personality. The wife of bath is a self –proclaimed expect on marriage due to her experience. She ignores Jesus’ disapproval of having five husbands, but prefer the command of to go forth and multiply. In her prologue, she recounts how she gained control over her past five marriages and this display that happiness will follow when the women have control. Then her tale further enforces her ideal of this.

In contrast, the Wife of Bath is unapologetically impious and hyper-sexual, the complete opposite of the ideal woman in her societal context. The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, is full of vulgar language and sexually graphic imagery that typically would not belong on a religious pilgrimage. The view of marriage she presents in her prologue in terms of a woman’s free use of her body, contradicts traditional Christian beliefs. Her absolute lack of restraint when discussing disconcerting topics such as sexual

Dominant and submissive roles have existed in relationships between men and women since the dawn of time. Since then, Women have overturned public oppressions, e.g. working outside the house, voting, and having equal rights to men, but have yet to establish a non-submissive relationship with their male partners. The moral of Wife of Bath is the desire women have to have power over their husband and how this dominance is beneficial for them and through the course of the tale, the speaker makes an effort to express her views of control in a happy marriage.

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,