Wife of Bath's Tale Review

Michael B. Holmberg, Jr.
Canterbury Tale Review

The Wife of Bath The Wife of Bath, or Alison, is a worldly woman. Not only has she traveled the world, she has experienced the world, in the sexual manner. Alison herself states this at the beginning of her tale, "Were there no books at all on the subject, my own experience gives me a perfect right to talk of the sorrows of marriage . . . I've married five husbands . . . ."(Chaucer 174). The point of Alison's long-winded prologue is to crush the idea that men have a hierarchy of dominance over women. Chaucer makes this point, and also the point, through Alison's tale, that if women are given what they want, then they will be obedient and faithful to their men. The worldliness of Alison is something that would have been looked down upon at the time that Chaucer wrote his tales. But Alison, the cunning harlot that she may be, throws the standards of her time right back in her culture's face as well as the church's. She does this not only being proud of what the church at that time would have called a wicked woman, but she uses the scriptures to give justification as to why she can, and has had five husbands.
The truth is, I don't want to keep chaste forever. As soon as my husband departs this world some other Christian shall marry me, for then, says the Apostle, I am free to wed in God's name where I please. He says it's no sin to be married: better to marry than to burn. What do I care if people rail at that villainous Lamech and his bigamy? (Chaucer 175)
Alison finds it better to leave virginity to those who are pure or perfect and let those who have the "gift" use it to control their husbands. At this notion, the Pardoner, another one of Chaucer's characters, asks why he should even wed if his wife is going to control his body. Alison quickly replies that he should listen to her tale before he makes judgements about the "gift" that women have. Now Alison begins her tale. Alison tells the tale of a knight in King Arthur's Court who rapes a beautiful young maiden out of lust. The knight is sentenced to be decapitated. However, the queen and other ladies of the court ask Arthur to give the knight one chance to save himself, and being obedient to the wifely counsel, Arthur agrees. The knight may live, if within one year he can come back to the court and tell them what women want most in the world. Alison continues her tale, telling all of the different answers that the knight receives, such as sex, money, flattery, and even remarriage. Not thinking that any of these answers are true he continues on. Nearing the end of his journey, the knight spots a group of women dancing in the woods, but when he gets to where they were they have vanished and all that remains is an ugly old woman. The old woman ask if she can help and the knight tells of his predicament. The old hag says that she knows the answer and offers to help only if the knight pledges himself to her. Returning to the court, the knight gives his answer to the women. The knight replies that what women want most in the world is to be in control of their lovers and husbands. With this answer the queen is pleased and the knight is given his life back, but not before the old hag asks the knight to marry her. After offering his possessions with no gain, he agrees to wed the old hag. As the two lay in bad that night, the woman asks why the knight is so sad. The knight replies that it is because he has such an ugly and lowborn wife. Alison sneaks a small lesson in at this point as the wife replies that even bad people can come from good blood and vice versa. She tells the knight that he can have her ugly and faithful, or young and unfaithful. The knight ponders this for a while and replies that the woman should choose what is best-giving her what she wants. At this the woman is transformed into a beautiful young woman and the two live a happy and long marriage and the woman becomes obedient to her husband. The moral here is that by giving a woman what she wants and showing her that you can give her what she wants, she will be faithful to you. Here Alison's story ends with her asking that the Lord send women men who are young, meek and fresh in bed, and that the women have the grace to outlive their husbands. What Chaucer is trying to say here is that if men give women what they want-control over them-then there is nothing to worry about. Their women will be faithful and please them as long as they are married. There are however some weaknesses and strengths to this tale. The weakness are that Alison, The Wife of Bath, often misquotes her literature and from whence it came. This shows that she is not all she says she is. The strength to counter this, however is that she is revealing to the group of storytellers how a man can please a woman-a vital piece of information that can now be used by the men of the group when they return from their journey. Also as a strength, the story, as poetry is very understandable and easy to follow, and the tale that Alison tells herself is one that should not soon be forgotten. The reason that Alison tells this tale is because, for the most part, this is how she was treated and in return loved her husbands accordingly. For this reason it is also very unique. And for this reason, it should be the prize winning tale, for it reveals to men how to keep a woman, and to keep her happy.