The Wife of Bath is a woman of experience. She has made of living off of her five husbands and defends her actions very adamantly. She uses or actually misuses quotes from the Bible and other literary works to justify those actions. The Wife of Bath is a shrewd woman who manipulates her husbands to dominate their relationships and acquire their fortunes. When she grows tired of her husband or if he dies she gets another one. It seems to be more of a game to her, than a marriage build on love.
By defending her actions using the Bible and other books, The Wife of Bath appears to be a well read person. The problem is that she misquotes them or the author of the quote never made the statement as with Ptolemy in "The Almagest". The Wife of Bath says that Ptolemy wrote, "Whoso will not be warned by other men, by him shall other men corrected be." The Wife of Bath makes this statement to the pardoner telling him to be quite and let her talk so that he may learn something from her experiences. The fact that she misquotes the teachings of Paul, by saying that it is best to chaste, but if you must marry, it is also okay. I am sure that Paul would disagree with her multiple marriages according to the way The Wife of Bath acts in those marriages. I think that the Wife of Bath was a convert to Christianity later on in her life and was set in her ways. This is why she assimilates the teachings of the church with her own beliefs.
The Wife of Bath acts more like a black widow, than a loving wife. She chooses her husband, takes pleasure in wearing them down and in receiving their money, and then finds a new husband when they are dead. The domination of her husbands was the ultimate goal in all of her marriages, not equality between her and her husband. She would use her experience to get what she wanted. The Wife of Bath finds fault in "The Book of the Wicked Wives" because she feels that the stories are told from the point of view of the clerks and are not valid.
