In the Canterbury Tales written by Geoffry Chaucer, we find a particular tale that gives us a moral that we can use even today. The Wife of Bath's tale tells us a lot about women and what women want in a relationship.
The tale is related by the Wife of Bath, Alison. Chaucer described her in the General Prologue as a woman that always wanted to stand out, it could be with her clothes or preceding at the offering. Chaucer also said that " She had been an excellent woman all her life/ Five men in turn had taken her to wife,/ Omitting other youthful company.(ll. 447-449. In her prologue we learned that the Wife of Bath was really proud of her life and marriages. Even though many people have criticized her, she was not ashamed. She was different form the other women. In her prologue we get to know that her first three husbands were "kindly men and rich and old" (ll. 202). She had a lot of power over them. Her fourth husband wasn't good because he had a mistress. About the fifth one she said "I loved him best, in fact; for as you see,/ His love was a more arduous prize for me" ( ll. 515-516). She was willing to give all her pith eve though he was a railing husband. Her husband realized that what he read about women wasn't true in all of them. In this way their marriage remained faithful.
Her tale is very similar to her life. One of the king's knights had to find the answer of "what women desire?" in a year to save his life. However he found and old women that has the right answer Women desire to have the sovereignty. Since the old woman had the right answer the knight had to marry her. He was unhappy because her wife was ugly, old, and low birth. when they kissed she transformed into a beautiful young lady. Since that day they lived happily ever after, faithful to each other.
Chaucer purpose for this tale is to demonstrate that what is important in a relationship is to be faithful to each other and not what other people think of you soul mate.
