The Wife Of Bath In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales
The titular character in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale” challenges medieval patriarchy in an attempt to denounce the sexist ideals at the time. However, the Wife of Bath herself is not a flawless example of feminism.
The Wife of Bath is named “Alis” (326), which is short for Allison in modern English. Interestingly, she shares the name with the young wife in “The Miller’s Tale,” also from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The name, then, represents a challenge to the patriarchy as much as the person does. Within “The Miller’s Tale,” Allison commits adultery and sees herself as above her older, but unarguably devoted husband. The Wife of Bath is also guilty of the same things. Her first “three men were goode… and olde” (203); thus, the character of Allison within “The Miller’s Tale” could likely be a younger embodiment of the Wife of Bath. However, Allison in the tale is portrayed in a way that makes her appear entirely cruel and unjustified in her actions. The Wife of Bath argues that she is justified in her actions because of the harsh inequalities created by the patriarchy. The difference between the two could be attributed to a situation where Chaucer’s own beliefs conflict with the beliefs of his characters.
Of all the completed sections of The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath is the only character who has a prologue that is longer than her tale. For many the prologue is simply an introduction to the story they wish to tell. However, the significantly longer prologue …show more content…
While the Wife of Bath dissents from patriarchal ideas, Chaucer still feels as though he must stifle her more scathing criticisms with excuses that place the woman in the
The Wife of Bath is named “Alis” (326), which is short for Allison in modern English. Interestingly, she shares the name with the young wife in “The Miller’s Tale,” also from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The name, then, represents a challenge to the patriarchy as much as the person does. Within “The Miller’s Tale,” Allison commits adultery and sees herself as above her older, but unarguably devoted husband. The Wife of Bath is also guilty of the same things. Her first “three men were goode… and olde” (203); thus, the character of Allison within “The Miller’s Tale” could likely be a younger embodiment of the Wife of Bath. However, Allison in the tale is portrayed in a way that makes her appear entirely cruel and unjustified in her actions. The Wife of Bath argues that she is justified in her actions because of the harsh inequalities created by the patriarchy. The difference between the two could be attributed to a situation where Chaucer’s own beliefs conflict with the beliefs of his characters.
Of all the completed sections of The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath is the only character who has a prologue that is longer than her tale. For many the prologue is simply an introduction to the story they wish to tell. However, the significantly longer prologue …show more content…
While the Wife of Bath dissents from patriarchal ideas, Chaucer still feels as though he must stifle her more scathing criticisms with excuses that place the woman in the