The Wife Of Bath In The Canterbury Tales

3 Pages 854 Words

Many people in society are associated with being “ahead of their time”. The recognition they receive when called “ahead of their time” can be a direct result of the way they dress, the way they act, or maybe even their point of views. In “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, the Wife of Bath is an overbearing, powerful, and provocative woman whose actions make her a modern woman in medieval times when women were submissive and modest.
Throughout the Wife’s prologue, Chaucer portrays the Wife as a controlling and overbearing woman. She shows this power especially through her views of marriage. The Wife’s main proposition is that “…the woman should have the upper hand in marriage”(Chaucer,123). She believes that “We cannot love a husband who takes charge of where we go”(Chaucer,123). She enjoys being the one to lay down the laws with no questions asked. She claims that she is in fact “an expert as a wife”(Chaucer,123) and therefore can say that “a knowing wife if she is worth her salt, can always prove her husband is at fault”(Chaucer,123). The Wife enjoys being the dominating figure in her marriage. And by proving her husband is always at fault, the Wife
maintains her power. Along with her powerful views and ideas, the Wife of Bath is very demanding when it comes to her expectations of her old and rich, otherwise known as her “good”, husbands. According to the Wife, her husband “shall be both my debtor and my slave”(Chaucer,122). She thinks a useful husband will “…praise our beauty all the time” as well as “call us pretty names in public places”(Chaucer). Along with demanding compliments, she also expects more materialistic items such as feasts and “presents at the least”(Chaucer,124).
The Wife is extremely successful at being an aggressive, controlling woman. But she also proves herself to be overly provocative as well. One theory that ...