Mr. Moser
English 4 Period 1
28 Oct. 2014
Wife of Bath Essay The Wife of Bath is considered to be a noble, wise, and commanding character. She challenges the accepted roles of women during her time by showing superiority in her relationships, questioning the system, and being unrefined. The Wife of Bath simply yearns to be the more dominant figure in her relationships. She has made her point that a man, regardless if it’s her husband or not, “must not be above her” (Chaucer). She truly believes that women should not be considered lower than a man, which is why in relationships, she has “been the whip” (Chaucer). She wore the pants in the relationship, which means that she had complete control of all her marriages and made all the decisions. She was in fact an authority figure, “wise, and most important of all, obeyed by [her] husbands” (Vaněcková). …show more content…
Women during her time were considered to be housewives, the ones who’d sit at home and raise the children. The Wife of Bath did not do this. In fact, she did not possess any aspects of a mother figure at all, this is because “she had no children” (Vaněcková). She had no children to take care of and therefore, only attended her husband. Due to the fact that she had no responsibilities, she put all her energy into questioning the system. She dragged on the idea that women were just as equal as men so much, that her husband eventually agreed that they were “equal partners” (Vaněcková). The Wife of Bath did not follow the role of motherhood like women in her time; she strongly objected the roles of