The Dichotomy-Fulfillment In The Wife Of Bath's Tale

Regarding the tale of the Wife of Bath, the most common interpretation is wish-fulfillment, yet the ending flips this on its head and undoes all that it would seek to do, according to McTaggart (43). The Wife being as complex of a character as she is and Chaucer’s complexity when writing this character would certainly not allow one to discount this reading completely. Like gender in reality and any social power struggle, metaphorical or literal, nothing is quite a clear-cut dichotomy and expecting Alyson to fall neatly into one box or another is pure folly. Certainly there is plenty of wish-fulfillment to be found in the tale, for instance, the role reversal of power the judges over the rapist knight’s fate. The best example is the one that