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The Wife of Bath

            
             The Wife of Bath is one of Geoffrey Chaucer's more vibrant characters. The Wife of Bath had outlived five husbands and Chaucer leads the reader to believe that she is looking for her sixth on the trip to Canterbury. The Wife of Bath is witty, intelligent, opinionated, and sensual. Geoffrey Chaucer also gives a somewhat detailed description of the Wife of Bath. Other than her being witty, intelligent, opinionated, and sensual Chaucer also informs the reader that she is extremely old. She was also somewhat deaf and had gap-teeth set widely, large hips, and her heels spurred sharply under. Chaucer also tells that she likes to be in company to laugh and chat. Of all the Pilgrims on the trip to Canterbury, The Wife of Bath is quite possibly the most real to the reader.
             The Wife of Bath tells a tale of a young knight in King Arthur's day who was a lusty liver. One day as he was riding from the river he came across a pretty young girl who was alone. No matter what the girl said by force he took her virginity. The actions of the knight got around town and because of this act of violence created a stir. By petitioning to the king for her the knight was commanded to lose his head by course of law. The knight was as good as dead, but the queen convinced the king to give her the case. She was granted his life and she could choose whether to show mercy or refuse. The queen told the knight that she would spare his life if he could answer one question. The queen wanted the knight to answer what is the thing that women most desire. Since the knight couldn't answer the question that moment she told him to return a year and a day later and if he had the answer then his life would be saved. The knight went through every town and knocked on every door in search of the answer to save his life. A year had passed and the knight had no answer. On his day to return to the queen he saw 20 or so ladies dancing in a meadow.


Essays Related to The Wife of Bath

1. Wife of Bath

... from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. "She- is the Wife of Bath. Not only is the Wife of Bath flamboyant and colorful, she can also be considered a feminist, but she also falls into the some of the stereotypes of the women of her time. The Wife of Bath also may have had five husbands in all, but that doesn't bring her sense of feminism down. Even the Wife of Bath's tale gives the reader a sense of her feminism. Feministic views during the time of the Wife of Bath were very few because ... seduced and the Wife of Bath was able to be the master of those from the beginning of the m...

  • Word Count: 925
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Wife Of Bath

... women and specifically these feminists by creating two very strong-willed and successful women in the Wife of Bath and the old hag in the Wife's tale. However, through all of the tough outer attributes, on the inside are the same classic and traditional damsels in distress that require a man just like the women of that time always had. Through the original strong qualities of the two women, Chaucer provides a hopeful example and model for women ... sarcastic attack about love in marriage was necessary. Chaucer does it through the Wife of Bath as a medium to reach the hopelessly ignorant...

  • Word Count: 1579
  • Approx Pages: 6

3. Wife of bath

... The Wife of Bath's Prologue The Wife of Bath's Prologue can be read in two ways. Many critics view her character as one of the first feminist figures of Medieval Literature. She is a strong-willed and dominant woman. She speaks freely of her sexuality and of her dysfunctional marriages. The wife of Bath escapes the typical thinking of woman in Chaucer's day. Woman were viewed as property and many sources of authority saw sexual pleasure as a lustful sin. The Wife of Bath ... clearly disagrees with this ideology. She views marriage as a way of getting revenge on men, who place woman ... a...

  • Word Count: 767
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Wife of Bath

... Stereotypes In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales one of the more interesting tales belongs to a character referred to as the Wife of Bath. The Wife of Bath uses her story to indirectly dispel the cast system and religious stereotypes. She sets an old hag and the hag's appearance against herself and the way that others perceive her. The transformation of the hag into a beautiful and faithful wife represents the Wife of Bath's inner beauty and true soul. The knight's journey is used to be ... symbolic of the life long journey she has taken in ... ...

  • Word Count: 532
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

5. The Wife of Bath

... she should have taken the advice she gave the pardoner and learned from the warnings of "The Book of the Wicked Wives". The tale of the knight told by the Wife of Bath is about what women really want. The knight avoids death by traveling around the land to find out that women want mastery over their man. The idea of this story corresponds with what The Wife of Bath thinks. This comes as no surprise that The Wife of Bath tells this story to further ... justify her actions. The only moral ... ...

  • Word Count: 530
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

6. The Wife of Bath's View of Marriage (Canterbury Tales)

(Based on The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.) In the beginning of the Wife of Bath's Prologue, she expresses that marriage, based on all of her experience, is a misery and a woe. However, she goes on to give a lengthy defense of her many marriages, and says that she will "welcome the sixth, whenever he appears". She seems to enjoy marriage, as a sport. According to the Wife of Bath's point of view, a wife ought to be completely ... owns. She should be given anything she wants and allowed to do anything she pleases. The husband ought to be patient, meek, quiet...

  • Word Count: 531
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Manipulation in The Wife of Bath

... over her five husbands. She used this desire to persuade them into doing unhealthy actions, such as sexual activity in a commanding manner. The religious leaders portrayed their personal opinions of virginity, which differ from the way Alison viewed them. The importance of celibacy in the church impacted the life of The Wife of Bath because of her constant need for power, which she gained through sex and marriage, reflecting negatively on ... loven best richesse;/Some saide honour, some saide jolinesse;/Some riche array, some saiden lust abedde,/And ofte time to be widwe and wedde " (25...

  • Word Count: 771
  • Approx Pages: 3

8. Idealism v. Realism: Love in the Middle Ages

... fantasize that the Wife of Bath is a hopeless romantic, but it is imperative to understand that she too longs for love. However, although she may long for love, the Wife of Bath serves as Chaucer's representation of an independent woman as an instrument for societal reform. The Franklin and the Wife of Bath have entirely different, but strangely similar, perspectives on love. Where the Franklin is idealistic, the Wife of Bath is strong and harsh. In this instance, the Wife of Bath's Tale ... serves more as a representation of marriages of the time: marriages in which men controlled all ...

  • Word Count: 2555
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography

9. The Wife of Bath's Views on Love, Marriage, and Female Supre

... -related matters; the Wife echoes these characteristics of herself in her Prologue. The realism of the Wife of Bath's life with five different husbands and the cruelty of some and the kindness of the others are mirrored in the witty tale she tells. She begins by showing how, even under the rule of King Arthur and his chivalrous knights, women are at the mercy of men; this is demonstrated in the rape of the young maiden by the knight. Immediately, though, the Wife begins to ... to show that the Wife believes that the only way to achieve happiness is to give women the power in relationship...

  • Word Count: 1172
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

10. The Wife of Bath's Views on Love, Marriage, and Female Supre

... -related matters; the Wife echoes these characteristics of herself in her Prologue. The realism of the Wife of Bath's life with five different husbands and the cruelty of some and the kindness of the others are mirrored in the witty tale she tells. She begins by showing how, even under the rule of King Arthur and his chivalrous knights, women are at the mercy of men; this is demonstrated in the rape of the young maiden by the knight. Immediately, though, the Wife begins to ... to show that the Wife believes that the only way to achieve happiness is to give women the power in relationship...

  • Word Count: 1172
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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