Bryan Figueroa January 12, 2015
LAL 4 5th Period
“The Wife of Bath,” by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer is a collection of stories that are consider unfinished. Among these unfinished tales, there is the story of the Wife of Bath. The story begins with the introduction of a woman named Alice, who had a strange behavior for that time period. During this time period, or middle ages, the bible was considered the law, saying that a woman should be married before having sex, etc. Alice used the “law,” and twisted the words to justify her actions. Geoffrey Chaucer used the story of the “The Wife of Bath,” to express how ridiculous the people of the Middle Ages acted towards women.
The Wife of Bath, aka Alice, was very provocative for the middle ages. Alice was this gapped toothed, big headed woman, who was considered the most beautiful of the town. Alice was infatuated with lust and pleasure but did not sleep around like any common whore. Alice married the man she wanted to “be” with and manipulated the bible to justify her actions. Alice said, “We were put on this earth to reproduce and have children.” This made her a hypocrite because she did not have children at the time. Alice’s beliefs ridiculed the whole middle age time period.
Instead of men being dominant, Alice showed how a woman could be in control. Alice shows her dominance in her first three marriages. Alice’s first three husbands did any Alice said because she used her beauty and her sex appeal to control them. Alice had this power over the men in her life and it allowed her to get whatever she wanted, until the fourth husband. Alice’s fourth husband did not pay attention to her. He even cheated on Alice which hurt her ego. Alice was the most beautiful and the sexiest, how could anyone cheat on her? At this point in the story Geoffrey Chaucer express that women had power over men even if they are not in complete control. Alice pretends to cheat on her fourth husband which ended up killing him. Alice once again was in control until her fifth husband.
Alice’s fifth husband was her biggest challenge yet. Her fifth husband was younger then she was and wanted to control the relationship. This did not work for Alice, not one bit. Alice’s tricks to control her first three husbands did not work on her fifth. Using sex was usually her advantage, but since that was not working she had to use her intelligence. Alice did what she wanted and did everything in spite of her fifth husband. This angered him to the point where he beat Alice. According to her fifth husband, women were supposed to listen to their husband and stay quiet. Alice did hated the way she was treated but stayed anyway because she loved him (in bed). It was not until she hit him back that she got what she wanted, complete control. Geoffrey Chaucer uses the story of The Wife of Bath, to express how women had control over men and did not have to be put down or abused like they were in the middle ages.
Alice justified her actions and proved that she human. Alice shows that a woman can be a dominant person no matter the time period, middle age or not. Geoffrey Chaucer express how foolish he thought that people of middle ages were for treating the way they did women. The Wife of Bath is a great story and proves a great point. Just because someone has a different way of looking at something does not mean they deserve to be hated or ridicule them. Middle age people would not last in modern day society because women are on top of the world.