Asked by: Miyuki Menguiano
family and relationships marriage and civil unions

How does Chaucer feel about the Wife of Bath?

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Chaucer portrays the Wife of Bath as a deviant and rather ugly woman. The physical appearance of the Wife of Bath described by Chaucer is "she had gap-teeth, set widely." Showing that her facial features weren't of the finest. She is dressed in very expensive cloths and wears a scarf covering her head, neck and chin.


Keeping this in view, why does the Wife of Bath tell her tale?

'The Wife of Bath feels she is an expert on relations between men and women because of her experience with five husbands. Her main point in her prologue and in her tale is to explain the thing women most desire - complete control - which she describes as sovereignty over their husbands.

Secondly, how does the Wife of Bath feel about being married five times? The Wife of Bath expresses her opinion of marriage simply with the moral in her tale: Women want to be considered the equal or better of their men. She is in control of her five marriages, and the woman in her tale is in control of the knight.

Similarly, it is asked, how does Chaucer use satire in The Wife of Bath's Tale?

Chaucer uses irony and satire to challenge the church's oppression of women by allowing the Wife of Bath to speak freely about sex, marriage and women's desires. Chaucer develops her character, gap-toothed, earthy old hag, who is honest, witty and funny.

What type of character is the wife of Bath?

In The Canterbury Tales, written in the late 1300s by Geoffrey Chaucer and published after his death in the 1400s, the Wife of Bath is a seamstress and professional wife who has been married five times. She is a strong woman who has found that she can use her body to control her husband, whom she likens to slaves.

Related Question Answers

Sharif Torspecken

Professional

What does the wife of Bath say about women's desires?

In "The Wife Of Bath's Tale", women most desire sovereignty over men in relationships. In other words, the power to have dominance over men is the one thing women most desire. Women have the ability to get what they want, when they want it. Chaucer portrays the Wife of bath as the dominant person in her marriages.

Melvina Amati

Professional

What does the wife of Bath want?

In a word, the Wife of Bath, Chaucer's infamously bawdy heroine, wants power, specifically power and dominion over men. The Wife of Bath describes being beautiful and desireable to her fifth husband, a younger man named Jankyn.

Sergiu Cara

Professional

What is the main idea of the Wife of Bath tale?

The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath's Tale Theme of Power. A knight deprives a maiden of power over her own body; his punishment, as decided by the women of the court, is that he must find out what women most desire, which turns out to be power.

Zenona Glaeseker

Explainer

Why did the Wife of Bath love her fifth husband the most?

Of her fifth husband, she has much more to say. This husband was also different from the other four because she married him for love, not money. He was a poor ex-student who boarded with the Wife's friend and confidante. When she first met this fifth husband, Jankyn, she was still married to her fourth.

Aneudy Manz

Explainer

What is the relationship between the Friar and the Wife of Bath?

The Wife of Bath is a loquacious and bawdy woman whose lengthy Prologue is interrupted by the Friar, whom the Summoner accuses of "always stick[ing] his nose in the broth. Angered also, the Wife of (The entire section contains 298 words.)

Marvin Winkelheide

Explainer

Why did Chaucer use satire?

Satire is the use of humor to expose someone or something's vices or flaws. In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer uses satire to expose the faults of institutions, and common stereotypes of his time.

Gregorio Meewis

Pundit

What are the types of satire?

The three types of satire include: Horatian, Juvenalian, and Menippean.

Eliz Arguijo

Pundit

Is the Wife of Bath's Tale A romance?

“The Wife of Bath's Tale” is a medieval romance in the chivalric tradition. Chaucer's tale, a poetic narrative, is typical of medieval romances in that it contains a knight on a quest, mercy, honor, and the royal court.

Florida Huttemann

Pundit

How does the Wife of Bath contradict herself?

The Wife of Bath uses her time to tell of her past marriages and her views on the idea of marriage. Throughout her story telling it becomes clear that she is a bit of a hypocrite herself. She goes on to say that she is blessed to have already married five and she welcomes the sixth husband wherever he may be.

Yongxin Beshar

Pundit

What is the function of irony in the Wife of Bath's Tale?

For example, when the Wife of Bath says that each of her five husbands was happy to follow her rules and be nagged by her, it is verbal irony. In reality, she manipulated each of them to get the upper hand. Dramatic irony is when the audience is aware of something that a character is not.

Akier Aguirrezabal

Pundit

What is estates satire in The Canterbury Tales?

Canterbury Tales as an Estates Satire. The Canterbury Tales, written towards the end of the fourteenth century by Geoffrey Chaucer, is considered an estates satire because it effectively criticizes, even to the point of parody, the main social classes of the time.

Hachem Gstattner

Teacher

What does the wife of Bath mean by the marriage debt?

The major feature of marriage, for the Wife, is the marriage debt, or sex, which seems to be why she's so strongly in favor of marriage. Another reason she's pro-marriage appears to be the ability to gain property, wealth, and a comfortable living situation through a husband.

Sherilyn Donkin

Teacher

What can the wife of Bath spend her money on?

She spends her money on fine clothing, as she attends a lot of social events. She sees those events as opportunities for future provisioning. She likes to travel, quite comfortably and she has been to many pilgrimages and instead of doing them on foot, she does them on a horse, because she can afford them.

Caitlin Dolado

Teacher

What is the Wife of Bath's attitude towards marriage?

In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath's attitude towards marriage is based on her firm belief that the wife must be at least equal to, if not superior to her husband. By marriage, she says, a woman can acquire sex, wealth, property, and social standing, all of which she acquired in her five marriages.

Shota Universo

Teacher

How is the wife of Bath a character archetype?

She uses her appeal, charisma and psychological prowess to get what she wants from her spouses. The wife of bath can be described as the archetype for feminism and female activist she challenges the status quo and despite what society labels her she reflects the desires of women in past and modern times .