Canterbury Tales and 14th Century Essay

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Perhaps no one has more of a sense of humor about herself and the world than the Wife of Bath. The Wife of Bath shatters a number of stereotypes of the Middle Ages a contemporary reader might possess: first of all, she is socially powerful. As a widow, she is rich, and she is willing to speak her mind. Chaucer's evident delight as a narrator in her lustiness shows that not all medieval women were desexualized in literature, and portrayed as shrinking maidens or nuns. Her tale seems openly feminist: it depicts a knight who must rely upon an old woman's wisdom to fulfill his quest, and after he is forced to marry her, she offers him a choice: she can be beautiful and unfaithful, or ugly and faithful. When given the option to choose the knight surrenders his choice to his wife -- to which the woman responds that he chose correctly, and now she will always be lovely and faithful as his reward.

The moral is clear -- to have an agreeable and happy wife, she must have her liberty.

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Yet the Wife admits that one of her husbands actually beat her, the one she loved the most, a young man who likely married her for her money. Also, the crime the knight of her Tale is being punished for is a sexual crime against a woman, although he seems redeemed in the end. However, even though the Wife of Bath has not always lived the feminist moral expressed at the end of her tale, the fact that Chaucer includes such a complex and strong woman in his cast of characters shows the fact that gender relations were far more ambiguous than is often assumed. Marriage could give a widow power and money, and women were not always faithful. The gap-toothed Wife says that while Christ might be pure and perfect, she is of the world and is not above sexual desire. She proudly calls herself a humble loaf of bread in contrast to fine white bread some women might be, and she defends herself when attacked by the more sanctimonious people on….....

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