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She assumes that men are either too ignorant to realize that she constantly lies to and fools them, or that they are just too weak to overcome her sexual plots. Her first four husbands, for the most part, fell into at least one of these two categories, and in doing so, they proved the wife correct. The foolishness of those men caused Alisoun to lose respect for men in general, and to believe that all men were this easily thwarted. Her fifth husband, Jankyn, is the only husband that she actually fell in love with. This is probably because he was the only one that she could not control, but it is unclear if whether or not she loved him because he provided her with a challenge, or if she loved him truly. The Wife of Baths’ cynicism towards men is also very evident in her tale. Although her tale ends happily, the issue of whether or not the youthful knight really changed is never really resolved. The old hag says to the knight, “Chese now, oon of thise thynges tweye: / To han me foul and old til that I deye, / And be to yow a trewe humble wyf, / And nevere yow displease in al my lyf; / or ells ye wol han me yong anf fair, / And take youre aventure of the repair / That shall be to youre hous, by cause of me, / Or in som oother place may wel be. / Now chese yourselven wheither that yow liketh.” (1219-1233) In this passage, the old lady gives the knight the choice of either having her stay ugly, but loyal and good, or having her become young and fair, but also cold and unfaithful. The knight replies that he would rather trust her judgment, and he asks her to make the choice herself. His answer was the correct one, and because of his understanding, she turns both beautiful and good. However wonderful this ending may seem, it should be noted that while telling the story, the Wife of Bath never tells if the knight gave his answer merely because he knew it was the correct answer to give, or if he did so
