Wife of Bath

Q.) To what extent does the Wife of Bath’s Prologue support or criticize the tradition of misogynistic literature prevalent in the medieval period? Support your answer with evidences in the text.

Ans.) An important element, that is generally noticed in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is his portrayal of all the women character. Chaucer, in his works, has created a stereotypical image of women – someone kind, faithful, conscientious – completely in adherence to patriarchal chauvinistic society. Women were never shown in a different light, which ended up creating a static perception of women in the mind of readers.

Yet, in Wife of Bath’s Prologue, Chaucer created Wife of Bath-Alison, a character who is quite flamboyant as well as transgressive in nature. She was completely in contrast to what an ideal woman should be, flouting all the accepted norms of so-called seemly feminine behavior in society. From having five husbands to using them all like pawns in her big game, she came across as a psychopath who was hungry for all the power and attention. A narcissist, who weighed everything in terms of profit or loss, that was who she was.

In her prologue, Wife of Bath offers quite a complex portrait of medieval women. On one hand, she was fairly open about all her sexual exploits, the way she manipulated her husbands, the way she used her sexual prowess to gain whatever she wished for. Whereas, if one sees it from the other side of the coin, one would say that by doing exactly these things, she confirmed to the negative stereotypes of women being manipulative and deceitful in nature.

These actions might at first be seen as a rebellion against the male dominated society, something revolutionary, but with a better inspection, one would realize that her actions did little to nothing in empowering women of her time. Everything she did, from the beginning to end, was for her own selfish motives and not for anything comprehensive. Yes, she did strike back at the men, but not to institute her status equal to the males rather for her personal profits.

The prologue began with Wife of Bath affirming her position as a knowledgeable person in the context of marriage. She described herself as a highly experienced individual, as she had had five husbands. She also quoted examples from Bible to justify her five marriages. As per her, marriage occurred only when sexual lust was tamed and controlled. Her arguments regarding marriage focused on only one aspect, just like the teachings of the priest she dissed of constantly. Her thinking was limited only to the sexual aspect of marriage and did not take into consideration the sacred commitments that came with it.

However, as one can see, she never understood Bible completely. More than once, she misquoted it, just to prove her arguments correct. Going beneath the multiple layers, one would notice that Wife of Bath’s relationship with all her husbands was like a commodity market. Wherein if the husbands didn’t provide her with what she desired for, then she wouldn’t let them have their way with her. She would deprive them sexually, until things go the way she had planned.

Critiques have more than often pointed out that Wife of Bath was both spiritually and literally deaf. Though she kept presenting examples from Bible to prove herself correct and people who preach, wrong, she never herself comprehended the spiritual and deeper meaning of the words written in Bible. She just interpreted those words in the manner which favored her. By turning deaf ears to everything that essentially didn’t support her way of living, she also came out as an unreasonable person.

If the Wife of Bath was really a character, who was meant to shatter the misogynistic stereotype of women, then she would have come across as a wise, intelligible person than ignorant and unreasonable, as proved by instances stated above. Yes, she was smart, there wasn’t an ounce of doubt in that. After all, she did all that planning to outsmart all her husbands, to fulfill her desires. But more than smart, she was cunning, shrewd and manipulative. And to her these were traits of a wise woman.

She was seen more in negative light, rather than coming out as a positive character. Also to support the fact that she perpetuates the negative stereotypes of women in Chaucer’s time, one would obviously notice the fact how she used to withhold sexual pleasure from the husband who would not provide her with enough money. Initially it might come across as a medieval women exerting her independence, but it was more twisted than that. If she would have been really a woman who believed in asserting her principles and equality to men, then she wouldn’t have used her sexuality as a tool to lure men, she wouldn’t have cheated on her husbands. Instead she would have played fair and stood rigid on her morals. Yes, being open about your sexuality and your desires is nowhere wrong, but using it for deceiving someone is also not morally right.

For any medieval woman to be truly revolutionary, she must find a way to prove herself in a manner both on part with and independent of men. The Wife of Bath, however, used the patriarchal system and institution of marriage to her own benefit rather than seeking any meaningful changes.

When it comes to her wickedness, one would notice, that she was very much aware of her vices. However, just like her sexuality, she used them to her advantage, by transforming them into her strengths. And by this, she just ended up proving another misogynistic misconception about women being the best liars in the world.

Her constant contradictions, to whatever she would claim, in the next line itself just proved that her words could not be held accountable for. And again, this confirmed to another stereotype of women not being capable of standing true to their words.

Even though Wife of Bath tried very much to present herself as strong and independent, but in the end she was more a part of negative stereotype than a normal woman might be.

In The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, she justifies her female role in a male society by using the Bible against those who challenge her decisions and lifestyle; she also uses her body as a way to get what she wants from her husbands, showing the reader that she is the one in the dominant role and not her husbands.

In the prologue, the Wife of Bath states that she has the authority on marriages because she’s had multiple experiences throughout her life to have the knowledge about them; she continues on to question why men are allowed to have multiple wives throughout their lifetimes and not be looked down on but women who have multiple husbands throughout their lives are.

When the Bible is used against her by others they state that Jesus only went to one wedding, therefore she should only marry once. The Wife of Bath turns the Bible against those who question her actions by stating that in it, people should be fruitful and multiply. She goes on further to state that strong men such as King Solomon, Abraham, and Jacob had more than one wife, so why should she not have more than one husband?

When the Wife of Bath discusses her relationships with her many husbands she states that the first three were all good to her, mainly because they gave her control of the relationship they had and used them because they were rich, old men and could manipulate them to get what she wanted. She would refuse to have sex with them till they gave in and gave her what she wanted.

The fourth and fifth husband were not so easy to manipulate; the fourth husband challenged the Wife of Bath’s authority by having a mistress. When the husband got drunk, she would make herself seem like the victim and guilt him into giving her control.

The fifth husband she married out of love but they had a very abusive relationship; they would argue most of the time and would always use his book to justify why the Wife of Bath was this way. The end of the prologue ends with the Wife of Bath explaining that the ultimate goal women want is control over their husbands and in order to do this, you have to manipulate them or guilt them into getting what you want.

The parallels in this story can still be found in today’s society. Women use their bodies as bargaining tools all the time; refusing to have sex with their partners till they admit they are at fault or till they get something. Twisting their partners words so it fits the narrative they want and guilt them till they eventually break and give in.

The Wife of Bath in today’s society would be seen as a “slut”, but women today are also celebrated for their sexuality, so she could be seen as someone who is open about her sexual encounters like she talks about in her backstory. Women in medieval times and in the 21st century both want to be in charge over men.

As the most successful influenced stories, The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the greatest and the most memorable work. Conceive yourself being shown as an extension of someone else, conceive if you had to depend on your husband for your protection and your survival, and conceive yourself being viewed as a temptress and creator of sin who destroyed men by your seductive nature. That’s what life was like for women during medieval times.

The Wife of Bath is one of the most popular characters in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. the reasons for her popularity, is her expression of her feelings regarding marriage and the expectations of women during medieval times. The Wife of Bath characters is considered to be a reflection of heroism regarding to what she has done, to be able to stand up for the right of women and their dominance in a male-dominated society.

The Wife of Bath and several other characters are on a pilgrimage to Canterbury and tell stories to each other to pass the time along the way. The Wife of Bath begins her story using a prologue, which explains her life and her beliefs. She explains that she is a bit of a rebel who does not like following authority but rather her own experience.

The Wife of Bath has been married five times and feels her experience with men makes her an expert on marriage and relations between men and women. In her “Prologue,” the Wife of Bath starts out by saying she is a believer in experience rather than authority. She says, “Experience, though noon auctoritee Were in this world, is right enough for me” (Chaucer 117).

The Wife of Bath has been married since the age of twelve and has had five husbands. So she definitely has a lot of experience in the area of sex and marriage. Therefore, she says that she is a strong believer in experience as opposed to written authority such as the Bible. She does not see anything wrong with the fact that she has had five husbands, because she says that even God wants man to increase and multiply: “God bad is for to wexe and multiply: that gentil text can I well understand” (Chaucer 117).

In fact, she is going on this pilgrimage to Canterbury with the hope of finding her sixth husband. Even though the Wife of Bath says she is a believer in experience rather than authority, she often quotes and uses the Bible to support her ideas and beliefs, though she mosquitoes more often than not.

She is a very sensual woman who love sexual relations and pleasing her husband, even though she is not as beautiful as she once was. She is not ashamed of her life or her marriages and does not feel she should be condemned for her behaviour. She makes several references to the Bible to justify her beliefs and explains she does not feel God should condemn those who marry multiple times. She avows to be imperfect and does not believe virginity is a virtue for everyone as described in the Bible.

The Wife of Bath argues that if God had condemned marriage and wanted people to be chaste, then where would people come from? If everyone was supposed to be chaste, then there would be no people and hence, no seed for virginity to grow from. The Wife of Bath believes that everyone has a gift from God, and she thinks her sexuality is her gift. People are called to different works by God, and hers is her sexuality. She believes that God has given man sexual organs for both reproduction and pleasure.

In her opinion, God has given her this great sexual instrument, and she will use it as often as she can. She does not envy virginity, but believes that virginity is perfection and is not meant for everyone. She says, “I nil envye no virginitee: Lat hem be breed of pured whete seed, And lat us wives hote barly breed–” (Chaucer 120). The Wife of Bath is extremely proud of her sexuality and has no regrets; she is perfectly happy being barley bread.

The Wife of Bath believes that the husband is his wife’s slave and owes her for life. She believes that as his wife she has control and power over him and owns his body and flesh. This is a serious inversion of Church teachings, in which women were subordinate to men, but oddly enough, the idea of the husband owing the wife the marriage debt of sex and financial support is found, from an early date, in Jewish religious texts and law for example;

It is, thus, the husband’s duty to pay his wife his sexual debt for life according to the Wife of Bath. The Wife of Bath is extremely blunt and open about her ideas and her sexuality. The Pardoner is offended by what she says and interrupts her to tell her that he was considering marriage, but after what he has heard, he is grateful that he is still single.

The Wife of Bath describes several of her marriages and how she gained control in her relationships but lost several of her husbands to death. The Wife of Bath entered into relationships with men, young and old, easily and based on her attraction to them. She had five husbands and desires a sixth one.

The Wife of Bath takes great pride in the fact that she has had sovereignty over all her five husbands. She is very well situated, because her first three husbands were old and wealthy. In her “Prologue,” she tells the other pilgrims about the techniques she used to gain control over her first three husbands.

She says, “I governed hem so well after my love” (Chaucer 122). She hates the fact that her fourth husband had a mistress. So to punish him, she makes him jealous by letting him think that she is not faithful to him, even though she really is. She says, “in his own grece I made him frye” (Chaucer 127). She gains sovereignty over her fourth husband only by surviving him.

The Wife of Bath has lived her life to the fullest and she does not regret anything. In her youth she has had many lovers and has had a good time. Even though age has taken away her youth and figure, it makes her feel good to think that she has really enjoyed herself in her youth. “Chaucer 127.”

The Wife of Bath marries her fifth husband for love and not for money. Even though her fifth husband beats her, she says that she loved him the most. One night he beats her for tearing pages from a book. He hits her so hard that she becomes deaf in one ear. Realizing what he has done, he asks for her forgiveness. “Chaucer 134.” In this way the Wife of Bath is able to gain sovereignty over her fifth husband. A similar theme is expressed in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale.” According to “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” women most desire sovereignty in marriage and over their husbands.

In conclusion, considering when The Canterbury Tales was written in the late fourteenth century, many of the characters in The Canterbury Tales seem real, even today. The Wife of Bath is considered to be a hero regarding to what she has done in her time, to be able to stand up for the right of women and their dominance in a male-dominated society. She is extremely blunt and outspoken about her ideas and beliefs, Despite being a woman of the fourteenth century, her ideas, beliefs, and behavior are more like a woman of the twenty-first century.

Works Cited

• The Canterbury Tales http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/webcore/murphy/canterbury/7wife.pdf

Geoffrey Chaucer expresses present day realities throughout his novel The Canterbury Tales. Throughout the Wife of Bath’s prologue, the wife illustrates her actions to be equal to those of a feminist. The wife pleads to stand out without conforming to societal standards. Feminism is defined as the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. During the 14thcentury, it was likely that the Wife of Bath was thought of as a destructive rebel.

In modern times our society considers the Wife of Bath to be a revolutionary feminist who refuses to conform to the expectations of women during her time. The thought of women continuously desiring attention from a man and always being sought out to express promiscuous actions is a reality revealed in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Lines 263 through 270 of the Wife of Bath’s Prologue reveal the wife’s view upon how men illustrate the actions of women. And if she is ugly, you say that she covets every man she sees; for she will leap on him like a piel until she finds some man who will buy her wares. ” The quote explains that this woman is not able to persuade a man or even capable of being pursued because her looks are not appeasing, she must use her sexuality in order to have her way or get what ever she wants. Though this may be a negative view of women, this simply says women receive no recognition. Whatever a woman does, it is never good enough for a man’s desire.

The Wife of Bath’s Prologue also expresses the idea of women not pleased or wanting to be controlled neither having a master but instead searching for sovereignty in relationships. The 14th Century was a very relevant time of which women were controlled by their husbands. “We don’t love a man who carefully watches where we go; we want to be at large. ” (Lines 321-322) This quote simply explains that women do not want to be controlled, as men do – they also want power of themselves and to go about things as they please. Women sometimes go after a love that they do not possess for the purpose of gaining more power.