Social Commentary In The Wife Of Bath's Tale

The Canterbury Tales is a story that shows the society of Medieval England. The story is a frame story, which means there are stories within the overlying story. The outer frame, or larger story, is about pilgrims preparing to travel to Canterbury. The inner frame, or smaller stories, are the tales told by the pilgrims on their journey. The Canterbury Tales is actually about the different stories set within the overarching tale of the pilgrimage. The Wife of Bath’s Tale tells a story which tries to promote the rights of women in the time period. The Pardoner’s Tale tells of the negative effects of greed. Chaucer uses social commentary, direct characterization, and indirect characterization to illustrate social issues. Social commentary is writing that offers insight into …show more content…
This quote from The Wife of Bath’s Tale helps to exemplify the wants of women in Medieval England. The Queen asked the Knight to find out what all women want in the world, and that was his response. The novel idea that women want the same respect as women truly shows that in that time period people treated women unacceptably. This quote also explains that women wanted to have the power in the relationship, which hints at them not having any originally. The Wife of Bath’s Tale ends when the ugly old woman asks the Knight if he would rather her be young and beautiful, but not loyal to him or if he would want her to be completely faithful but old and ugly. He tells her to do what she wants and gives her complete control. Since he learned his lesson, she decides that she will be young, beautiful, and loyal. This further shows how treating women disrespectfully in that society was common. By the end of the story they completely ignored the horrible crime he committed and he gets a beautiful wife. The actions shown in this story represent the actions of