“The Wife of Bath’s Tale”: The Envy of Youth In “The Prologue of the Wife of Bath’s Tale” experience, power-struggles, and manipulations created knowledge, but eventually after time age had belittled: and the envy of the young arose. The main objective is authority, who is engaged by it, who has acquired it, who is deprived or ruined from it; and how can one acquire it. The wife engages her audience by sharing her experiences. She says, “Experience-and no matter what they say in books-is good enough authority” (219). By her disregarding those books, she attempts to show that her experiences have more value; it also suggests the books may be judgmental about her beliefs, character, or life choices. Yet, “good-enough” can also be perceived as a sign of weakness and therefore cause her to lose credibility in her experience. Nevertheless, she soon reveals the advantages of her experiences and shows a great delight in demonstrating her power to control and dominate her marriages. Regarding an older husband, she said, “For during his life I’ve “power of his body” and not he” (223), she is claiming power over an object is proclaiming that until her husband dies, she will have possession over his body. Also makes sure to point out, she has the control, not him. Which also gives a sense of the power struggles between sexes. Her arrogance is so strong that she admits she didn’t value her husband’s love. Then again, why would she? She is only interested in sharing the techniques that have made her a “lifelong expert”. In the following statement, when she begins to speak of her fourth husband, she seems to be either talking to herself or maybe just a thought running through her mind: And I recall my youth and gaiety; it warms the very cockles of my heart. And to this day it does my spirit good to think that in my time I’ve had my fling, But age,