Feminism In The Wife Of Bath's Tale

The Wife of Bath’s Feminism

In the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, Alison, the Wife of Bath, is characterized as a typical wife of the Middle Ages. Chaucer describes her as a woman with a beautiful face and rosy cheeks who tailors clothing and goes to church, much like other women of this time (Carosone). At first glance, her description does not hint at feminism. With her elaborate sewing skills, it seems that she fulfils the role of a dutiful wife (Carosone). Many readers do not put the story into context or appreciate The Wife of Bath’s character because of their passive approach to reading the story. Unless the readers give her autobiography and her tale a thorough reading, they will continue to misinterpret what Chaucer wants

Although the apostle Paul says to wives that their bodies belong to their husbands and to husbands that their bodies belong to their wives, the Wife of Bath overlooks the first part of the Bible verse (Ames qtd. in Good News Bible, 1 Cor. 7.4). She expands on the fact that Paul gives wives full control over their husbands by saying, “I will have the power all my life over his body, I and never he. It is just as the apostle said to me” (Chaucer lines 158-160). Most people of the Middle Ages believed that the husband had complete control over his wife, ignoring the second part of the Bible verse. The Wife of Bath, however, advocates women’s rights by bringing the second part of Paul’s teaching to light. She asserts that in a good, Biblical marriage, the husband must abandon the authority he claims to have and submit to his wife (Ames). Moreover, Paul instructs men and women to fulfil their duties as husband and wife (Ames qtd. in 1 Cor. 7.3). The Wife of Bath interprets what Paul says to mean that the husband has a debt to pay to his wife (Ames). She declares that, “My spouse shall have it day and night, when he desires he may come forth and pay his debt. . . . And he will be my debtor and my slave” (Chaucer lines 152-155). The Wife of Bath continually speaks of how her husband owes her. She rarely speaks of the debt she ought to pay to him. Again, she uses her Biblical

While reminiscing about her fifth husband, she mentions that after he gave her his wealth and the right to do whatever she pleased they, “never had debate”(Chaucer line 820-22). Alison uses her own personal experience to show how giving a wife sovereignty is beneficial in marriage. Also, the main theme of The Wife of Bath’s tale is women’s sovereignty (Carosone). In order to save his life, the knight tells Queen Guinevere that, “What women most desire is sovereignty” (Chaucer line 1038). He later applies what he learns from his quest to his marriage with the hag (Ames). Once the knight gives the old hag power in the relationship, she promises, “I’ll be both good and fair” (Chaucer 1241). She devotes herself to the knight and returns the same amount of sovereignty that he gives her, so both are equal in the relationship (Ames). One may argue that it is unfair to use the story as a basis to say that The Wife of Bath is a feminist since she did not fully understand the story herself; however, her lack of comprehension furthers the argument that she is a radical feminist. At the end of her tale, Alison prays,” Jesus shorten lives of those who won’t be governed by their wives” (Chaucer lines 1261-62). Her words illustrate how she believes in extreme feminism, not egalitarianism. She wishes for women to have more rights and power than