Through Alison, The Wife of Bath, the reader sees her idea of a happy marriage. She even considers herself an expert on marriage having been married five times. In the beginning of the tale, the Wife of Bath tells the story of a Knight who is nearly sentenced to death for rape of a woman who he took power over. Later in the same tale, she shows a model example of an ideal marriage between the King and his Queen, where the King consents to the Queen 's wish and gives her jurisdiction over the fate of the Knight 's. In the Wife of Bath’s Tale, author Geoffrey Chaucer suggests that yielding power to women is essential for success and happiness in any relationship between men and women as illustrated through the relationship between the King and his queen, the fate of the Knight, and Alison, the Wife of Bath and her marital …show more content…
As the Knight rapes the young virgin, he not only has the power out of the two, but he takes full advantage of this power and uses it to overpower her. The Wife of Bath illustrates her disgust at such an act through the King 's response; "he [the King] condemned the knight to lose his head" (Chaucer 282). The Wife of Bath uses the Knight 's rape of the young girl to position her case against those men of who abused their influence over women. She suggests instead that a situation where the woman has sovereignty over the man produces the quintessential