Women are only good for three things: cooking, cleaning, and having babies. This is and has been a common misconception about women throughout history. In the famous medieval literary work, ÃÂCanterbury TalesÃÂ by Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath gives readers a glimpse of a woman who was the total opposite of what men expected their women to be. She was married five times, used sex as a control option, and did whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. She was also somewhat educated, a very rare quality in a woman of that time. It is interesting to see what feminist traits the Wife of Bath exhibits and how she defies the expectations of men and biblical law in ÃÂThe Wife of BathÃÂs Prologue.ÃÂThe Wife of Bath is probably the most colorful character in the Canterbury Tales. She is opinionated, stubborn, and loud, and conducts a continuous struggle against the vilification of women.
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer, whose Canterbury Tales shares ma...
From the first page of Canterbury Tales: The Wife ...She begins her prologue by bragging about her experiences in marriage. She has been married five times already and she happily ignores that this is against biblical law and Christian ideals. The Wife of Bath is well educated in the biblical texts and those who use the religious texts to make a case for the obedience of women are the most eager targets of ridicule for the Wife of Bath. In reference to her multiple marriages, she gives the example of wise King Solomon, who had many wives and concubines, and tells the others that she will ÃÂwelcome the sixte, whan that evere he shalÃÂ (45).
In the Wife of BathÃÂs Prologue, the wife, or Alison, discusses matrimony, virginity, and sovereignty. In the prologue, she refers several times to the control that women should have over their men, a definite feminist idea. Alison feels that...