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Christen Hurley

Professor Auge

ENG 337

12/01/2020

Wife of Bath: A Feminist Work

Geoffrey Chaucer’s, “Wife of Bath” was written in the late 1300s; during this time,

women had little to no rights. Men were in control of society, and because of this, women could

only live a comfortable life if they married a rich, successful man, or if they were raised in a

well-off family. Due to these circumstances, women would be placed in arranged marriages, or

would seek out a loveless marriage themselves. Often times, the woman would have no control

in their relationship, while her male counterpart would maintain all of the power and make all of

the decisions; “Once the girl was married, her husband controlled her interests and was

responsible for her behavior and, for this reason, women are not mentioned as often as men in

legal matters in the Early Middle Ages” (Mark, paragraph 9). Women were expected to be in

possession of men, as their husbands had complete responsibility of them. Along with the large

amount of control men had over their significant other, if a woman found her relationship to be

unsatisfactory, she would be expected to stay in the relationship because if she were to marry

more than once, it would be highly frowned upon. “Wife of Bath” tells the story of a woman that

does not accept these traditional roles—she craves control, some sort of power in her

relationships, and she makes it clear that all women want the same through the telling of her

story of a rapist Knight. This story in the Canterbury Tales is a true feminist work for its’ time,

not only because of the clear desire Wife of Bath has for some control, but also the overall
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message that women do not want power over men, they want to be equals, and they want to have

a say.

Wife of Bath tells the story of her five husbands, the first three she was arranged to marry

and they were much older than she was, which created an extremely one-sided power dynamic.

She describes what she would do and say in order to get some sort of control in her unequal

marriages. She would lie, accuse, and complain, which usually got her in the position that she

wanted to be in. Her fourth husband had a mistress and this caused a lot of anger and jealousy for

Wife of Bath. From her description, the reader gets the sense that she despises her fourth

husband. Her fifth husband, on the other hand, was her choice out of love. Through the issues

that they faced together, they came out with a mutual understanding and respect for each other.

After she finishes discussing her husbands, she tells a story of a knight whom rapes a woman and

gets put on trial by a powerful woman. She gives him a chance to save himself by figuring out

what women desire most, and ends up marrying a woman that he finds unattractive to save

himself. In the end, the woman gets the choice of a lifetime that she takes. The two end up being

happy together. Readers that do not see this as a feminist work focus on the flaws of Wife of

Bath’s actions, rather than understanding why she does it.

Critics often argue that “Wife of Bath” does not represent feminism, but a caricature of a

strong and independent woman, an anxious male writer’s nightmare vision of a domineering

woman. They see her actions towards her husbands as unjustifiable, and anti-feminist. They see

her explanations of her actions as excuses, and that they contradict themselves. The critics also

deem her story as a male fantasy, as they only see the Knight “getting away” with rape, rather

than all of the other underlying messages. Through in-depth analyzation, the reader can

determine that this claim can be deconstructed. On the surface, it may seem as though Wife of
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Bath’s actions are anti-feminist, but this work uses her actions to build up to the true message of

the desire for equality in her marriages.

Though I understand why critics believe “Wife of Bath” is a male writer’s nightmare of

an unhinged woman, there is a deeper meaning than pure male anxiety towards female control.

Perhaps she is negatively portrayed at first glance, but through further analyzation, these

“negative portrayals”, in context, support the idea that “Wife of Bath” is a feminist work.

For her first three marriages, she was with men that were significantly older than her.

These marriages came with feelings of powerlessness, and so Wife of Bath would do what she

could to gain some sort of control, even if it seemed unjustified. She would often lie to them in

order to gain the upper hand, so that her husband would possibly give in. “I firmly swore to my

old husbands / That thus they said in their drunkenness; / And all was false, but I took witness

(Chaucer, 380-382). She would also accuse them of cheating on her among other things, even

though she knew these accusations to be false. By doing this, her husbands assumed that when

she went out, she was spying/looking for the women they were supposedly cheating on her with.

Therefore, Wife of Bath did end up getting her wish of some form of independence, even if she

got it by lying and causing a fuss. These marriages showed Wife of Bath’s desire for control and

what happens when she was kept under control instead.

When it came to her fifth husband, though, things are different. Instead of being an

arranged marriage, she chose to love him, even though he had no wealth. The one conflict they

have, ends in an equal agreement, ending her feelings over powerlessness. Her fifth husband

liked to read a book containing stories of wicked wives. In a fit of rage, Wife of Bath tears a page

out of his book, and he reacts by hitting her. Once he realizes what he did, he begs for

forgiveness. This is when they come to a resolution,

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“But at the last, with much care and woe,

We made an agreement between our two selves.

He gave me all the control in my hand,

To have the governance of house and land,

And of his tongue, and of his hand also;

And made him burn his book immediately right then” (Chaucer, 811-816).

From there on out, their marriage was peaceful and without conflict. The most important piece of

the story of her fifth husband is the fact that Wife of Bath does not take advantage of this new

power in her marriage, instead she creates a sense of mutuality between them. As she described

the problems in each marriage, it becomes very apparent that the problem lied within her

husbands having complete control over her, and as a true feminist, she rejected that idea, and

empowered herself until she finally got an equal standing. This marriage represents a key

message within the story being that men can give women control without being overpowered.

Wife of Bath tells a story of a Knight whom raped a woman. He is presented to the

queen, a powerful woman, and she is put in charge of his fate. Unlike a society with men in

charge, the queen decides to give him a chance to understand what women desire most, rather

than immediately putting him to death or giving him any punishment. An older woman saves

him by letting him know a woman’s greatest desire: “Women desire to have sovereignty /

As well over her husband as her love, / And to be in mastery above him” (Chaucer, 1038-1040).

He marries the older woman as gratitude towards her saving his life, but he becomes distraught
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at the fact that he was not attracted to his new wife. The woman has the chance to be young and

beautiful again and after some thought, he decides to let her choose;

“’My lady and my love, and wife so dear,

I put me in your wise governance;

Choose yourself which may be most pleasure

And most honor to you and me also.

I do not care which of the two,

For as it pleases you, is enough for me’” (Chaucer, 1230-1235).

The women, now knowing that she has some control in the relationship is comfortable enough to

choose to be young and beautiful again. Which not only benefits the Knight, but also the older

woman. The two live happily together with no problems from there on out. This story proves the

message overall that women want to feel equal in power with their husbands, and that they will

not take advantage of their new-found power, but create mutuality out of it.

“Wife of Bath” being portrayed as a feminist work is important because it shows

progression and understanding of women in early works of literature. The character Wife of Bath

is not portrayed as the most delicate woman, and this may lead readers to believe that it is not a

feminist work, but rather a scare tactic. The independence of Wife of Bath should not be

portrayed as a scare tactic, rather it should reflect a clear feminist work of a strong independent

woman yearning for mutuality in her marriages. Overall, “Wife of Bath” proves to be a feminist

work in the sense that it shows that women will not take advantage of power if they are given it,

instead it will make relationships stronger and less problematic.

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Works Cited

Mark, Joshua J. Women in the Middle Ages. 7 Dec. 2020, www.ancient.eu/article/1345/women-

in-the-middle-ages/.

Chaucer , Geoffrey. “Wife of Bath.” Chaucer: The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale -- An

Interlinear Translation, http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/wbt-par.htm#PROLOGUE