The Wife Of Bath
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The Wife Of Bath
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The Wife of Bath’s Tale , one of the 24 stories in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer . Before the Wife of Bath tells her tale, she offers in a long prologue a condemnation of celibacy and a lusty account of her five marriages. It is for this prologue that her tale is perhaps best known.
The tale concerns a knight accused of rape, whose life shall be spared if in one year he discovers what women most desire. He eventually turns to an ugly old witch who promises him the answer that will save his life if he will do the first thing she asks of him. The answer—that it is “maistrie,” or sovereignty over men, that women desire—is accepted in court, and the witch then demands that the knight marry her. In bed she asks him if he would wish her ugly yet faithful or beautiful and faithless. He insists the choice must be hers. This concession of her mastery restores her youth and beauty, and they live happily ever after.
The story is a version of the Arthurian romance The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell and is similar to one of the tales in the 14th-century Confessio amantis by John Gower .
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The Canterbury Tales
by
Geoffrey Chaucer
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The Wife of Bath comes from the town of Bath, which is on the Avon River. She is a seamstress by trade but a professional wife by occupation: she has been married five times and presents herself as the world’s expert in matters of marriage and the relations between men and women. Chaucer describes her as large, gap-toothed, and dressed in red clothing , which is traditionally the color of lust. The Wife of Bath is a force of nature, a larger-than-life character who is not afraid to push her way to the front and state her opinions.
Related Characters:
The Wife of Bath (speaker)
Related Characters:
The Wife of Bath (speaker)
Related Characters:
The Wife of Bath (speaker)
Related Characters:
The Wife of Bath (speaker), Jankyn
Related Characters:
The Wife of Bath (speaker)
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The timeline below shows where the character The Wife of Bath appears in The Canterbury Tales . The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The slightly deaf Wife of Bath , an excellent seamstress, is always first in line at parish offerings. If anyone brings...
(full context)
The Wife of Bath has been married five times (not to mention her other “company”) and has gone on...
(full context)
The Wife of Bath announces that she is an authority on marriage because of her experience, having had five...
(full context)
The Wife of Bath challenges anyone to prove that God commanded virginity: though it is great for some people,...
(full context)
The Pardoner interrupts, worried because he is about to be married. The Wife of Bath tells him to shut up and have another drink: when she, the expert in marriage,...
(full context)
Of her five husbands, the Wife of Bath says, three were good and two were bad. The first three were good because they...
(full context)
The Wife of Bath tells all the wives to listen to her carefully: Always, she says, be mistress in...
(full context)
For example, says the Wife of Bath , in such a rant, she would ask why the neighbor’s wife looks so pleased...
(full context)
The Wife of Bath rants against the old proverb that women only show their vices after they are married....
(full context)
The wise astrologer Ptolemy, says the Wife of Bath , knew best: Ptolemy advises men to mind their own business. What good is it...
(full context)
The Wife of Bath boasts that through her sexual and verbal powers, she kept control over her five husbands....
(full context)
Women, says the Wife of Bath , are born with the tricks of deceiving, weeping, and spying. She also claims that...
(full context)
The Wife of Bath tells about her fourth husband, who took a mistress. Back in those days, the Wife...
(full context)
The Wife of Bath took her fifth husband, a clerk named Jankyn, not for his money but for his...
(full context)
The Wife of Bath is upset to learn about Jankyn’s book of wicked wives that he spends his time...
(full context)
Out of frustration, the Wife of Bath tears three leaves out of the book and punches Jankyn in the face. Jankyn retaliates...
(full context)
The Friar interrupts the Wife of Bath’s prologue to complain about its length. He and the Summoner begin to quarrel. The Friar...
(full context)
...to be able to deceive and keep secrets. As proof of this last point, the Wife of Bath tells Ovid’s story of King Midas, whose ears were turned into ass’s ears. Midas begged...
(full context)
...does so, she transforms into a young woman, and they live happily ever after. The Wife of Bath concludes with a plea that Christ send all women meek, young, and fresh husbands who...
(full context)
Raphel, Adrienne. "The Canterbury Tales Characters: The Wife of Bath." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 8 Nov 2013. Web. 8 Sep 2022.
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Experience, though noon auctoritee Were in this world, is right ynough for me.
Men may devyne and glosen, up and doun, But wel I woot, expres, without lye, God bad us for to wexe and multiplye, That gentil text kan I wel understonde.
By God! if women hadde written stories, As clerkes han withinne hire oratories, They wolde han writen of men moore wikkednesse Than all the mark of Adam may redresse.
And whan I saugh he wolde never fyne To reden on this cursed book al nyght, Al sodenly thre leves have I plyght Out of his book, right as he radde, and eke I with my fest so took hym on the cheke That in our fyr he fil bakward adoun.
And eek I praye Jhesu shorte hir lyves That noght wol be governed by hir wyves, And olde and angry nygardes of dispence, God sende hem soon verray pestilence!
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The Wife of Bath
Character Analysis
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This is an image sourced from an article on popular English revolutionists every month depicting Chaucer.
The story in which the Wife of Bath originates from the the Canterbury Tales . This story was written by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. Chaucer wrote many works in his life time, one of the most popular is the Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tales is attributed to the wide spread use of Middle English during its time of publication. Chaucer wrote this story as a satirical play on class stereotypes. In his work he addresses some of the hard hitting facts about how each class lived during his time. He was a popular writer then and now [1] .
This is an illustration from the Thomas Becket page showing his murder.
This is a picture of the Wife of Bath on her journey. This image was sourced from a website translating the Canterbury Tales to Italian.
The Wife of Bath is one of the twenty-seven characters in the Canterbury Tales . The Wife of Bath as well as the other characters are on a journey to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury [2] . In this work she is to tell two stories on the way to the shrine and two on the way back [2] as a part of the contest that the Narrator is holding during a group of people going on their pilgrimage . The winner of this contest will receive a meal courtesy of the rest of the pilgrims when they return from the shrine.
The Wife of Bath describes herself as a professional wife. Her actual occupation though is a seamstress. She has been married five times as well as had many different affairs. She is a very religious woman taking pride in her faith as well as the fact that she is only to be married within the church. The Wife of Bath tells about herself as someone who like to be married as well as takes pleasure in expensive items, arguing, and talking [2] . She is educated in the sense of common sense and well traveled making her very experienced in love and life. She has been on three pilgrimages in her life before the one that she takes in the Canterbury Tales.
This knight found a beautiful young maiden and was overcome by her beauty and forces himself upon her. Seeing this horrible crime is a sentenced to death by beheading. The queen asks the king to spare the man if he can, in one year, find out what a woman truly wants.
According to Wife of Bath she came across this man and said that women want to be revered and in charge She tells the story of Midas as proof how he had "ass's ears" and his wife wanted to tell someone so badly about this secret. The knight takes this tale and tells the queen that women want control and she spares his life.
In this tale the Wife of Bath tells the tale of how there was an ugly old hag who was turned into a pretty and desired woman if the men treat them well.
Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales keeping in mind the common stereotypes for each class. The rich wear expensive clothing with coloration. Colors were a rare occurrence due to the fact that dye had to be handmade
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