Wife of Bath's Tale

The Wife of Bath's Tale

Does Chaucer support or argue against this definition of a wife.

Given in The Wife of Bath's Tale?

Alison of Bath,Is a very attractive lady, and has attracted the attention and many comments over the centuries. She has traveled all over the world on pilgrimages, so Canterbury is a jaunt compared to other perilous journeys she has endured. Not only has she seen many lands, she has lived with five husbands. She is worldly in both senses of the word: she has seen the world and has experience in the ways of the world, that is, in love and sex. Rich and tasteful, the Wife's clothes veer a bit toward extravagance: her face is wreathed in heavy cloth, her stockings are a fine scarlet color, and the leather on her shoes is soft, fresh, and brand new--all of which demonstrate how wealthy she has become. Scarlet was a particularly costly dye, since it was made from individual red beetles found only in some parts of the world. The fact that she hails from Bath, a major English cloth-making town in the Middle Ages, is reflected in both her talent as a seamstress and her stylish garments. Bath at this time was fighting for a place among the great European exporters of cloth, which were mostly in the Netherlands and Belgium. So the fact that the Wife's sewing surpasses that of the cloth makers of "Ipres and of Gaunt" (Ypres and Ghent) speaks well of Bath's (and England's) attempt to outdo its overseas competitors. Although she is argumentative and enjoys talking, the Wife is intelligent in a commonsense, rather than intellectual, way. Through her experiences with her husbands, she has learned how to provide for herself in a world where women had little independence or power. The chief manner in which she has gained control over her husbands, has been in her control over their use of her body. The Wife uses her body as a bargaining tool, withholding sexual pleasure until her husbands give her what she demands.

She has a specific way of referring to herself or of women in general. When she is speaking at events in general or telling a tale. Her pronouns; will start out "they" to "we" to "I" or from "women" to "we" to "I". When she speaks it is always intensely "hers" so as it is not to be confused with anyone else. She is usually exaggerating about her adventures, clothing, her marriages, love for sex and her need for domination. She is very boisterous about her many husbands, especially how she tended to them until their deaths.

But now, sir, let me see what shall I sayn?

Aha, I have my tale again (585-6)

As she is telling her folktale of the knight and the old hag, she refers to the classical story of Midas, and immediately wants to tell it:

Will you hear the Tale? (951)

Her Prologue is, above all, about her--her experiences of being in and out of love in her marriages. Her outpouring is a confession of sorts but without a trace of the penitent's "mea culpa," for as she recalls with relish: "I have had my world as in my time." The only thing she regrets is that age, "

"Hath me bereft my beauty and my pith."

that of the cloth makers of "Ipres and of Gaunt" (Ypres and Ghent) She has traveled all over the world on