Would you say that the Wife of Bath is "pro-feminist," or "anti-feminist," or neither? Chaucer has chosen to project his views towards feminism through the wife and her views and attitudes. Many literary critics throughout the years have labeled the Wife of Bath a feminist. She is a strong-willed and dominant woman who gets what she wants when she wants it. However, this is not the definition of a feminist. A feminist is someone who believes that women and men are equal, while also is able to recognize and appreciate the unique characteristics of both sexes. A feminist celebrates what it means to be a woman. Chaucer did not mean for his character to be interpreted as a feminist. If anything, the Wife of Bath could safely be called a sexist. She constantly emphasizes the negative connotations associated with women throughout the ages, and believes that all women are inherently that way.
From the first page of Canterbury Tales: The Wife ...
Wife of Bath in the Ellesmere manuscript
Rosa 'Wife of Bath', Austin 1969The Wife of Bath describes women as greedy, controlling, dishonest creatures. Although it seems contradictory, she has no respect for her body or the rights of women, and is an insult to true feminists everywhere.
The commonly used example of the Wife of Bath's so-called "feminism", is the incident in which she rips pages out of her husband's extremely sexist book. He proceeds to hit her in the head, causing her to fall to the floor in pain. This seems like an act of female liberation, but it is far from that. She did not think the horribly sexist stories her husband read to her were untrue. In fact, the stories sounded like something the Wife of Bath, herself, would say. She lashes out because she can not face her flaws. The Wife of Bath actually says that women can have no one "reprove us...