In what ways could the moral to Wife of Bath's tale relate to her relationship with her fifth husband? First consider the moral of the tale. The moral is very simple; that true beauty is on the inside of a person and not how they appear on the outside. The moral relates to her relationship with her fifth husband in that she herself was not young and as beautiful as she was in her younger years, but even though she lost her beauty, she would still use her knowledge from her past experiences to get what she wants from her husband. The Wife of Bath also states her own conclusion on the moral of the tale. The Wife of Bath concludes from the moral of the tale that husbands should obey their wives at all times. This relates to her fifth marriage in that her fifth husband would belittle her every night by reading passages from his book called Valerie and Theofraste. The Wife of Bath despises him reading this book. She feels that he is disobeying her by mocking her with these readings and becomes angry with him. Not only does her fifth husband disobey her, but when she tried to express her anger against him by ripping out some of the books pages and then punching him, he retaliates by hitting her back on the side of the head. The Wife of Bath uses her tale to show the wrongs of her fifth (second "bad") husband, by explaining that even though she lost her beauty, her husband should still give her what she wants and he may get some satisfaction out of the relationship in the end.
The Wife of Bath stated twice in the prologue how she often lies to get what she wants. How could her tactics be compared to the Knight's skin-deep change of behavior towards women? The Wife of Bath states that she would often lie to get what she wants or felt that she deserved. This could be compared to the Knight's change of behavior towards the end of the tale. I do not believe that the Knight truly learned his lesson from the educational escapade that the Queen has sent him on, but has instead learned to lie as well.
