Violence In The Wife Of Bath's Tale

The Wife of Bath believes very strongly that the woman should be in charge in a marriage, and that any violence against women should lead to shame from the man. Not only does she discuss such things in her prologue but her tale centers around the theme the violence against women is a terrible thing and any man that believes it not so deserves to be punished. The Wife of Bath does not condone any violent acts against women, though her tale shows she believes that a man who is violent can learn to become a good husband is he acknowledges that the women should have the power in the relationship.

Something that the Wife of Bath quite enjoys doing in order to attest to the fact that women should not be dominated by or held to a different standard than men is by using various Bible stories. The term ‘gloss’ is thrown around to discuss how she brings up such stores. The medieval meaning of gloss is different from the one today, as it means to interpret or define something, particularly in great depth. Hence, the Wife of Bath glosses over Bible stories in order to interpret and define them in a way that proves the point that she is making. She mainly utilizes

This turn of events led to his realization that women were not to be treated with violence and held on a tight leash, but rather they were people and he should allow her to do as she wishes, as he says to her “do as thee lust the terme of al thy lyf” (820). Jankyn effectively puts the Wife of Bath back in control of her life and the marriage, which is exactly where the Wife of Bath wanted to be to begin with. The Wife of Bath effectively used a scare tactic in order to bend Jankyn into the man she wanted him to be all along. By frightening him into thinking he had killed her, she forced him to reevaluate his treatment of her, allowing her to regain independence from