The View of Marriage in The Wife of Bath
The Wife of Bath has her own perception of marriage, which Chaucer shows in both the
Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale. Marriage itself was defined by Webster's Dictionary as the
state of being married, a wedding ceremony and attendant festivities, or a close union. Marry
or married is said to be joined as husband and wife according to law or custom, or to take as
husband or wife, says Webster's Dictionary. In both the Prologue and Tale of the Wife of Bath
we see the institution of marriage used as control over money and sexual powers. Chaucer's
Wife of Bath displays a complete sense of mockery toward marriage as a holy institution. The
Prologue and Tale of the Wife of Bath clearly show that the Wife of Bath sees marriage as a
woman's dominance over a man.
In the Prologue, the Wife of Bath starts to defend her actions of marrying five men. She
interprets from scripture:
All I know for sure is, God has plainly bidden us to increase and multiply a noble
text, and one I understand! And, as I'm well aware, He said my husband must
leave father and mother, cleave to me. But, as to number, did He specify? He
named no figure, neither two nor eight why should folk talk of it as a disgrace?
(219-20)
She uses her marriages as a sort of fulfillment of God's word. Using two specific examples
from scripture she explains why her marriages are justifiable by God:
For then, says the Apostle Paul, I'm free to wed, in God's name, where it pleases me. He
says to be married is no sin, better it is to marry than to burn. I know that Abraham was
a holy...
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...Bath wanted to have dominance over all males that is what she shows in her
own life, the Prologue, as well as in her Tale. The queen in the tale has the power to let her
husband behead the knight. The Wife of Bath herself held sexual deeds over her husbands in
exchange for money. She held power over their property and money. The women of this story
are portrayed as opposites of the way women were supposed to act in those times. These woman
were independent although still able to be put into their place by their husband. There is always
an alternative motive, which is the woman receives what she wants in the end. The Wife of Bath
is not a picture of chastity but she proves that there is nothing wrong with marrying more than
once because she waited for each to die before remarrying and in the bible the men say that it is
all right by the Lord to marry.
According to the Wife of Bath, sovereignty, or power, over their husbands is what women desire most in their lives:
The image of the woman in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue is depicted by Chaucer to be “barley wheat” in a town and civilization lusting for whole white wheat or virginity (Chaucer 1711). The woman has married many men and in doing so forgotten the true value of the Christian faith and now believes worldly influence can overpower the scriptures of the Bible, “can you show in plain words that Almighty God forbade us marriage? Or where did he command virginity?” (Chaucer 1709). Jackie Shead analyzes the prologue and states, “it begins by manipulating authoritative texts--a pre-emptive strike to justify the Wife's marital history and her single-minded pursuit of self-gratification” (Shead). The possibility of the Wife of B...
The idea of supremacy and dignity are both present in The Wife of Bath’s Tale making it the central concept throughout the entirety of her story. It is assumed that her primary marriage was organized by her parents, even though The Wife of Bath does not mention them in her prologue, “experience, though no authority/ were in this world, is right enough for me/to speak of the woe that is in marriage; /for, my lords, since I was twelve years of age.” (Chaucer 285). In that time period, it is considered that the men, such as a father, husband or even a brother are supposed to protect the women in the family. Even though The Wife of Bath does not believe in being ruled by a man, she does however like to be married to one. One will notice that when a husband passed away or left, The Wife will move to her next husband. A marriage where the wife conquers over the husband is a perfect, blissful one according to The Wife of Bath. She discovers that it’s not too...
In this way, Margary’s power over her body gave her independence and new life meaning. Her connection with God was established through her chastity, and this allowed her to live a the life she choose, untethered by the opinions of those around her. By negotiating her own sexual independence Margary moved beyond what was expected of her as a woman and as a wife and centered her life around what mattered most to her,
"Marriage is law, and the worst of all laws."(Godwin in Paul 113) is what William Godwin, an 18th century English writer who is also known as "the founder of philosophical anarchism" (Philip), wrote in his Political Justice book. His future-to-become wife, Mary Wollstonecraft, was another English writer whose fame shone after the publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Wollstonecraft was one of the first women to come open and sharp against the inferiority shown towards women at her time and no different from Godwin; she also attacked the marriage institute by calling it "legal prostitution" (Tomalin 106). But despite their theories, both of these writers acted different in practice. They both married, and what is astounding is that they married each other. The announcement of the marriage left everybody astonished and not able to understand how the paradox had happened. How could these two intellectual writers, who through their work told the world "Do not marry. Marriage is slavery." marry each other? To be able to understand the causes that led them to oppose their own moral laws, one first needs to know how and why each of them supported their anti-marriage philosophies.
example of the complicated nature of Chaucer’s belief system. On the one hand, we have many strong female characters that despite still being extremely dependant on the men in their lives, know what they want out of life. From a contrasting point of view, readers see a group of men, including Chaucer as the writer himself, making fun of the very nature of women as a whole. Is this really how Chaucer felt towards women, or is the prologue of The Wife of Bath’s Tale simply a parody of the opinions of his time?
She loves men but hates them. She strives for marriage but sees it as a battleground. She seems to like her fourth husband but is ready for a fifth even before the fourth dies. She loves her fifth husband the best but is more abused by him than by any of the others. She sees one of the purposes of marriage as procreation but seems to have had, in five marriages, no children. She thinks women should have sovereignty but seems not to want it herself, or at least not for long” (100)
The Wife of Bath is a complex character-she is different from the way she represents herself. Maybe not even what she herself thinks she is. On the surface, it seems as though she is a feminist, defending the rights and power of women over men. She also describes how she dominates her husband, playing on a fear that was common to men. From a point of view of a man during that time period, she seemed to illustrate all of the wrongs that men found in women. Such as a weak parody of what men, then saw as feminists. The Wife of Bath constantly emphasizes the negative implications of women throughout the ages. She describes women as greedy, controlling, and dishonest.
“The noble knight slays the dragon and rescues the fair maiden…and they live happily ever after.” This seemingly cliché finale encompasses all the ideals of courtly love, which began in the Medieval Period and still exists today. While these ideals were prevalent in medieval society, they still existed with much controversy. Geoffrey Chaucer, a poet of the period, comments on courtly love in his work The Canterbury Tales. Through the use of satiric elements and skilled mockery, Chaucer creates a work that not only brought courtly love to the forefront of medieval society but also introduced feministic ideals to the medieval society. At times, Chaucer even makes readers question his beliefs by presenting contrasting elements of principle in The Knight’s Tale and The Wife of Bath’s Tale, both tales told in his profound, multifaceted The Canterbury Tales.
In The Wife of Bath Prologue, Dame Alison discusses how a successful relationship between a man and woman is one where the woman is in control. She uses her experiences to defend her views. A woman who has been married five times, Alison clearly endorses herself as being a woman of sexual desires, and in doing this she also makes a defense for women like herself. She disputes the notion that marriage is inferior to chastity by giving examples from the Bible. She cites King Solomon who had numerous wives and was not condemned for his behavior so why should she. She also quotes St. Paul’s statement that it is better to have passion while married, “It’s no sin to be married, he said, / For if you’re burning, better to be wed” (50-51). She does not throw out virginity, but rather argues, “A woman may be counseled to be pure, / But to counsel and commandment aren’...
Virtually everything the Wife of Bath does or says regarding different aspects of her life demonstrates that she is very insecure about herself. She begins her prologue by informing the travelers that she has the authority to argue about and discuss marriage because of her experiences: “Experience, though noon auctori...
Carter, Susan. "Coupling the Beastly Bride and the Hunter Hunted: What Lies Behind The Wife of Bath's Tale." Chaucer Review, Vol. 37 No. 4 (2003), 329-345.
When reading the wife of Baths prologue and then her tale one can not help but to see the parallels present. The major parallel that exists is the subject of sovereignty. Who has it, which wants it, which deserves it and what will you do to get it? First we see that the Wife claims to have sovereignty over each of her husbands even though some were harder to gain dominance over than others. Then there is the tale where we find the answer to the question, “What do women want?”, sovereignty over their husbands. Finally we see the Wife’s idealized version of marriage in her tale. The hag gains control over the knight by forcing him to marry her, then giving him control to decide her loyalty, he cant chose so he gives up all control to her just like that and it’s over, the end, they live happily ever after.
However, Chaucer uses the Wife of Bath to invite us to think about the inequalities shaped in the institution of marriage that produce bad behavior. The Wife of Bath becomes a social advocate for women through her experiences.
In the beginning of the prologue, the Wife attacks arguments from the Bible to defend her position that marriage is inferior to