The Wife Of Bath In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

The Wife of Bath offers readers a complex portrait of a medieval woman. On the one hand, The Wife of Bath is shameless about her sexual exploits and the way she uses sexual power to obtain what she wishes. On the other hand, by doing exactly these things she is confirming negative stereotypes about women and proving that women are manipulative and deceitful. Even though her actions might at first seem to be rebellion against the male-dominated society in The Canterbury Tales, and more generally, the medieval period for women, there is very little that she does that is truly revolutionary or empowering for women of her time. Based on the Prologue to the Wife of Bath’s Tale, it appears from the onset that The Wife of Bath from “The Canterbury Tales” simply uses her sexual attributes for …show more content…
It appears that in this section of the prologue to the Wife of Bath’s tale, Chaucer wants his readers to laugh at this character rather than admire her for her proto-feminist stances on life and marriage. Throughout her prologue in “Canterbury Tales” by Chaucer, the Wife of Bath confirms misogynistic stereotypes of women since she presents herself as little more than what can quite technically be called a whore. Instead of being a revolutionary female figure with feminist intentions, she merely seeks husbands who will provide for her in exchange for sexual favors. For her, a “good” husband is, as she states in one of the important quotes from the Wife of Bath’s Prologue in “The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer “goode, and riche, and olde” (line 203) and is easy prey when she decides to pull tricks such as make them think she is out at night looking for his women while she is having a good time, only to turn this around later for monetary benefit. As she willingly states to her audience, “An housbonde wol I have I wol nat lette / Which shal be both my detour and my thrall” (lines