The Wife of Bath is a character from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The tale itself is one of the most famous ones in The Canterbury Tales, and is often used as an example of The Wife of Bath’s saucy behavior due to her overt sexuality. The story begins with a knight telling The Host that he will tell a tale about The Wife of Bath. The knight tells his story, which is interspersed with The Wife of Bath’s views on marriage and sexuality, the most famous being the exchange between her and her fourth husband.
The main character in The Canterbury Tales is Geoffrey Chaucer. The tale itself is one of the most famous ones in The Canterbury Tales, and is often used as an example of The Wife of Bath’s saucy behavior due to her overt sexuality. The story begins with a knight telling The Host that he will tell a tale about The Wife of Bath. The wife’s tale begins with its protagonist, an unnamed Knight, departing for war overseas. Before he leaves he marries his fair young wife so that she will be protected while he is away.
The knight gives his wife “power over [his] body, and all rights therein” as part of their wedding vows. The Knight is captured in battle and imprisoned by the pagan queen of Sicily, who learns that her husband has died leaving her alone with no heir to succeed him on the throne. The Queen has heard of the Knight’s beauty and releases him from prison, asking him to marry her and become King (all this despite the Knight repeatedly telling her no).
To seal the deal, she takes off one of her enchanted girdles (which give her great sexual powers) and places it on the Knight; if he refuses her now, he will be turned into a eunuch. The Knight is given three days to make his decision and goes away to think about it, after which he returns to the Queen with his answer: he will marry her or die. The pagan queen has no desire to kill him because she has fallen in love with him; so, she decides to take away all of his power rather than killing him outright. The knight’s wife now becomes the subject of debate between the two lovers.
The Wife of Bath is considered one of the most important characters in The Canterbury Tales due to her strong presence and unique personality traits. The wife’s boldness and outspoken nature provide comic relief throughout many stories told during The Canterbury Tales; however, she also serves as an informative moral guide. The Wife of Bath exhibits this range through her constant characteristic need for attention, while simultaneously providing solid advice about love and sex that any reader could benefit from hearing or reading about.
The Wife of Bath’s Prologue begins with her claiming that she will share “the copiline” (line 6) or “the cut” (line 11), which are terms used to describe the penis. The Wife’s Prologue is highly sexual in nature, which many scholars believe to be both purposeful and poignant in The Canterbury Tales. The Wife goes on to state that she will share her experiences about love; however, similar to The Canterbury Tales as a whole, The Wife of Bath has an underlying theme that is much more complex than it appears at first glance.
The Wife of Bath focuses on how women should be treated by their husbands, making this character one of the most feminist in all literature. The Wife uses her story telling abilities to educate men so they may better understand the needs and desires of women. The second part of The Canterbury Tales begins with The Wife beginning another story about herself. It seems Chaucer believed this to be The Wife’s best tale, as The Wife claims that it will “wirche yow” (line 12), or “do you some good.
The first part of The Canterbury Tales ended with The Wife promising to continue on her quest to give men the necessary tools so they may better understand women. The second part of The Canterbury Tales begins by The Wife stating she has found a new husband. The Wife spends the majority on this section discussing what love is and how it should be expressed between a man and a woman.
The tales were told by pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury cathedral and The Wife of Bath tells her tale in which she details her marriages and how they have brought her both pleasure and pain. The Wife, when she appears in The Prologue, seeks the attention of the other pilgrims, telling them that she will tell them a tale about “the sorrows of women” (Chaucer l. 5) in an attempt to gain sympathy from them for this subject matter has been portrayed as frivolous or insubstantial before, particularly in The Merchant’s Tale where it is considered to be indecent.
This shows Chaucer trying to set The Wife of Bath as a strong woman, challenging the patriarchy that exists in The Merchant’s Tale. The Wife is also attempting to gain their attention with her attire for she claims “I have a leon [lion] to my dame [wife]…She drew me first unto love” (Chaucer ll. 42-444) and proudly displays the coat of arms on her clothing which signifies she has been married at least five times. The other pilgrims are not impressed by The Wife’s way of gaining attention but The Merchant asks The Wife to speak because he respects Chaucer and thinks he will enjoy what The Wife has to say because it is different from other tales that have been told. His respect for Chaucer shows The Wife of Bath as a strong woman because The Merchant is willing to challenge the patriarchy himself by letting The Wife speak.
The Wife’s tale tells of how Christ saved humanity from original sin but according to The Wife it goes further as he opened up the path to marriage which was closed until then and women were able to marry without asking their fathers for permission. The other pilgrims found this offensive, particularly The Knight who refused to listen any longer after The Wife claims that “women should take into consideration what men have done for them first rather than God” (Janet Soskice l. 99).
The fact that she doesn’t say female throughout this shows her lack of respect towards other women which only The Merchant and The Parson seem to notice. The Wife continues, telling The Knight that “if we women were wise by nature… then you men would not be able to control us” (Soskice l. 101) which The Merchant also notices and The Shipman and The Prioress both praise her for this for showing women in a positive light, something other tales lack. When The Clerk claims The Wife is trying to distract them from their pilgrimage Chaucer writes:
Lerner 21: “you must ponder your path well if you wish to achieve your goal” (Chaucer ll. 865-866). This shows how he respects The Wife of Bath because she was the only one who spoke up for The Clerk when he spoke out of turn. The Wife continues, claiming that The Clerk wants to be “a monk” (Soskice l. 121) and The Clerk attempts to correct this misinterpretation but The Wife is unable to hear his response because The Shipman interrupts with a tale of how nuns are sinful which leads The Wife to tell her tale of how women have been able to enjoy sex, something men have tried to stop them from doing so.
