Imagine being viewed as an extension of someone else. Imagine if you had to depend on your husband for protection and for your survival. Imagine being viewed as a temptress and creator of sin who destroyed men by your seductive nature. That's what life was like for women during medieval times. The Wife of Bath is one of the most popular characters in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. The primary reasons for her popularity is her expression of her feelings regarding marriage and the expectations of women during medieval times. Listed below is a summary of The Prologue to The Wife of Bath's Tale and The Wife of Bath's Tale in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
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Summary of The Prologue to The Wife of Bath's Tale
The Wife of Bath and several other characters are on a pilgrimage to Canterbury and tell stories to each other to pass the time along the way. The Wife of Bath begins her story using a prologue, which explains about her life and her beliefs. She explains that she is a bit of a rebel who does not like following authority but rather her own experience. The Wife of Bath has been married five times and feels her experience with men makes her an expert on marriage and relations between men and women.
She is an extremely sensual woman who enjoys sexual relations and pleasing her husband, though she is not as beautiful as she once was. She is not ashamed of her life or her marriages and does not feel she should be condemned for her behavior. She makes several references to the Bible to justify her beliefs and explains she does not feel God should condemn those who marry multiple times. She admits to being imperfect and does not believe virginity is a virtue for everyone as described in the Bible.
The Wife of Bath describes several of her marriages and how she gained control in her relationships but lost several of her husbands to death. The Wife of Bath entered into relationships with men, young and old, easily and based on her attraction to them. She had five husbands and desires a sixth one.
She admits to nagging her first three elderly rich husbands but also satisfying them sexually. She believes that nagging men is one way for women to get what they want from men. For example, she criticized one of her husbands who complained of her spending practices. Her fourth husband had a mistress, which she despised and caused her to make him jealous.
She believed her fifth husband was her 'true love' even though he married her for money and made her life difficult by beating her. She married her fifth husband, Jankyn, while discovering her attraction to him at her fourth husband's funeral, after being introduced to him by a friend previously. Jankyn held traditional medieval views of women and read about his views from the Bible aloud, which upset The Wife of Bath. In her frustration she hit Jankyn, ripped pages from his book, and he fell over into a fire. In retaliation he hit her back and she pretended to be dead until she gained sympathy from him and he promised her anything if she would live. The Wife of Bath saw this as a victory over her fifth husband and she remained a faithful wife to him until his death. These experiences taught the Wife of Bath that a marriage is happiest when a wife has control.
Summary of The Wife of Bath's Tale
In The Wife of Bath's Tale she describes the story of a knight who learns about woman's greatest desire and how to treat women. After a knight in King Arthur's court rapes a young maiden, the queen and ladies of the court decide to give the knight one year to study women and learn about a woman's greatest desire in order to avoid a beheading, which was the usual punishment for such behavior. Just as the year is almost over the knight sees young maidens in a field who suddenly disappear as he approaches them; in their place all he sees is an old woman who agrees to save his life and help him understand women if he agreed to a deal with her. The old lady tells the knight that woman's greatest desire is control over their husband, which is the correct answer to the queen's question.
Because he answered the question correctly, the knight was able to avoid beheading. The old woman's in turn asked to become the knight's wife and love, which the knight agreed to do; however, he was repulsed by the old woman's age and lack of beauty and expressed his feelings to her. The old woman assured her husband that because she is not beautiful or desirable she will remain loyal to him. The old woman gives the knight the choice of having her as a wife or a younger, more beautiful woman and he leaves the choice to her. As a result of his answer, and her ability to gain control of him, she asks him to kiss her and she became young and