Wife of Bath

The Wife of Bath : Sovereignty and Marriage

Among the best known of Geoffrey Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales is The Wife of Bath 's Tale . It is about a worldly woman , who referred to herself as Alyson or Alys , and her stories of her marriages . With her every story the readers can see that she is hardly an idyllic woman and not one to be admired

The Wife of Bath had been into five marriages . Knowing that it would elicit negative responses from the other pilgrims , to justify entering into multiple marriages , without

shame , she exclaimed that she is not perfect , as opposed to Jesus Christ . This kind of argument is only made by such persons who knew that what they were doing was wrong and yet continued doing it . Not being perfect is a state , not an excuse for mistakes

Ideally , love should be the only prerequisite to marriage . As the Wife of Bath grouped her five husbands into two , good and bad , one may notice her contemptible reasons for marrying the men . The three good men are the old and rich . Only those who say that the "good " people are the old and rich and , in Alyson 's case , marry them are gold diggers . Her extravagant outfit proved how wealthy she has become . Worse , she shamelessly and proudly tell the pilgrims that she controlled these unfortunate men . She has achieved this power through the sexual pleasures that she could give the husbands and the deceitful stories that she tell...