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The Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale

            
             The Wife's appearance in the play can be drawn from the short portrait in the general prologue. This gives the reader a fair indication as to what the character would look like and prepare us for her extravagant taste in clothes and her manner of speaking. Chaucer's comments on the Wife's dress indicate her extravagance in clothing in what we must assume was the accepted fashion for the rich or well off of the day. His comments also prepare the reader for her allusion to her wardrobe of "gaye scarlet gites", which moths had no opportunity of spoiling. .
             Her cloths are only one part of her "rich" and extravagant image, which she thinks becomes her. The Wife's spaced teeth and her faulty hearing are also picked up by Chaucer who mentions them in the portrait, but leaves it to the wife to later claim that they are becoming of her. He mentions her complexion and how it is "boold and fair, and reed of hewe" which insinuates itself through the Wife's energetic manner of speaking. Her complexion gives her the image of someone flushed and hot from speaking, it also hints at her stubbornness and how she will always argue her corner. .
             The image given is of someone who is very conscious of her appearance and dress but is not all that aesthetically pleasing. She has plenty of what would be seen as physical faults her hearing and her teeth; it gives the impression of some one who has been beaten or well accustomed to fighting. This is true though of the Wife because she fights her husbands, maybe not physically, to gain "maisterie". Whilst she has been injured physically the portrait does not give the impression of someone who has been beaten in any way. .
             Her Astrological Make up is quite a fundamental piece of the Wife's character because it gives all sorts of hints as to attitude and it also provides a medieval explanation as to her temperament. It tells us of her warlike tendencies and why this should be so in medieval times.


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... seduced and the Wife of Bath was able to be the master of those from the beginning of the marriages. She got rid of her fourth husband by making him jealous with Jenkins (who would become her fifth husband). The Wife of Bath would "Of wenches wolde I beren hem on honde- (The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, 399). Jenkins, the Wife of Bath's Fifth husband, would be more of a challenge for the Wife of Bath, but at the end would be able to be given the mastery of the marriage. Jenkins was different from the Wife of Bath's other ... also;-(The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, 819-821). Th...

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3. Similarities Between the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

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  • Word Count: 802
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4. The Wife of Bath's Views on Love, Marriage, and Female Supre

... her husbands, caused her to gain experience, money, and independence. Chaucer also makes reference to her wit and her willingness to talk; "In felaweshipe wel coulde she laughe and carpe- (line 476). The Wife proves both in her Prologue and Tale. Chaucer, in the General Prologue, successfully paints a picture of this wealthy, domineering, well traveled, and sensual woman. He gives the reader a tantalizing preview of the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, which the Wife satisfyingly completes by sharing her life story, her ... passion for manipulation of men, and her surprisingly modern p...

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

... her husbands, caused her to gain experience, money, and independence. Chaucer also makes reference to her wit and her willingness to talk; "In felaweshipe wel coulde she laughe and carpe- (line 476). The Wife proves both in her Prologue and Tale. Chaucer, in the General Prologue, successfully paints a picture of this wealthy, domineering, well traveled, and sensual woman. He gives the reader a tantalizing preview of the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, which the Wife satisfyingly completes by sharing her life story, her ... passion for manipulation of men, and her surprisingly modern p...

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

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9. Wife of Bath

... is completely transformed from, the Knight who abuses his strength on the woman in the beginning, to the weak man completely at the mercy of the old woman who becomes his wife. The outcome of both stories clearly define Alison's (The Wife of Bath's) theme of female sovereignty. The Wife's Tale shows it in the way a man disrespected women and was put into his place by women. The Prologue puts it as though, men are putty in the hands of women. Essentially, both stories ... show that women really can be in control. The traditional view of ... ...

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