Wife of Bath - Character Analysis
The Wife of Bath is larger than life. With broad hips, a big butt, and a hat as big as a boat, she takes up a lot of space in the pilgrimage and in the poem as a whole. The Wife is dressed expensively in scarlet stockings and shoes of soft, new leather, and she has a penchant for fine, large headgear that Chaucer estimates weighs about ten pounds.
With a red face to match her red stockings, and a large gap between her two front teeth, the Wife's physical appearance matches a medieval stereotype about what a lustful person looks like. This stereotype held that such people couldn't control their passions, and the Wife's portrait falls in line with this idea by telling us how the Wife becomes angry if other wives go before her at the Church offering (where going first is a sign of respect given to the most highly-regarded woman in the parish), and by hinting that the Wife had numerous lovers before her five husbands.
It seems that the Wife has had great financial success in her business as a clothmaker in which, says Chaucer, she surpasses the clothmakers of Ypres and Ghent, who were renowned for this trade. From this piece of information, we can assume that the Wife is now a widow, for only a widow would have had the freedom not only to run her own business, but also to travel as widely on pilgrimage as the Wife has, to Rome, Bologna, Cologne, and Gaul.
The Wife's numerous lovers and husbands have made her skilled in the "old dance" of love, or sex, an expertise she draws upon in the long Prologue to her tale. There, we learn more about the Wife's history and hear her defense of a lifestyle revolving around sex and procreation. (Learn more in our guide to the Wife of Bath's Prologue.) But even from her portrait, we get the impression that the Wife is a fun-loving woman who likes to have a good time, making her an ideal companion on pilgrimage, for "in felaweshipe wel koude she laughe and carpe" (General Prologue 476).
With the Wife, Chaucer is representing the medieval estate, or social class, of wifehood. There were many anti-feminist stereotypes about wives during this time period. We see them expressed here, in the portrayal of the Wife as lustful, in the Host and Franklin's complaints about their wives, and in the Wife of Bath's Prologue. But the presence on the pilgrimage of a dynamic and articulate wife who gets the chance to answer her critics means that these stereotypes are not allowed to remain unexamined.
The Wife of Bath is larger than life. With broad hips, a big butt, and a hat as big as a boat, she takes up a lot of space in the pilgrimage and in the poem as a whole. The Wife is dressed expensively in scarlet stockings and shoes of soft, new leather, and she has a penchant for fine, large headgear that Chaucer estimates weighs about ten pounds.
With a red face to match her red stockings, and a large gap between her two front teeth, the Wife's physical appearance matches a medieval stereotype about what a lustful person looks like. This stereotype held that such people couldn't control their passions, and the Wife's portrait falls in line with this idea by telling us how the Wife becomes angry if other wives go before her at the Church offering (where going first is a sign of respect given to the most highly-regarded woman in the parish), and by hinting that the Wife had numerous lovers before her five husbands.
It seems that the Wife has had great financial success in her business as a clothmaker in which, says Chaucer, she surpasses the clothmakers of Ypres and Ghent, who were renowned for this trade. From this piece of information, we can assume that the Wife is now a widow, for only a widow would have had the freedom not only to run her own business, but also to travel as widely on pilgrimage as the Wife has, to Rome, Bologna, Cologne, and Gaul.
The Wife's numerous lovers and husbands have made her skilled in the "old dance" of love, or sex, an expertise she draws upon in the long Prologue to her tale. There, we learn more about the Wife's history and hear her defense of a lifestyle revolving around sex and procreation. (Learn more in our guide to the Wife of Bath's Prologue.) But even from her portrait, we get the impression that the Wife is a fun-loving woman who likes to have a good time, making her an ideal companion on pilgrimage, for "in felaweshipe wel koude she laughe and carpe" (General Prologue 476).
With the Wife, Chaucer is representing the medieval estate, or social class, of wifehood. There were many anti-feminist stereotypes about wives during this time period. We see them expressed here, in the portrayal of the Wife as lustful, in the Host and Franklin's complaints about their wives, and in the Wife of Bath's Prologue. But the presence on the pilgrimage of a dynamic and articulate wife who gets the chance to answer her critics means that these stereotypes are not allowed to remain unexamined.
wob_context_chaucer_england.docx | |
File Size: | 159 kb |
File Type: | docx |
wob_context_cont..docx | |
File Size: | 165 kb |
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Some useful pre-reading websites for The Wife of Bath
Who was Chaucer?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/chaucer_geoffrey.shtml
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/
What is The Wife of Bath?
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/wbpro/
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/wbt/
Who was Chaucer?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/chaucer_geoffrey.shtml
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/
What is The Wife of Bath?
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/wbpro/
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/wbt/
•What are the antifeminist stereotypes of women that the Wife conveys in her Prologue?
•Does the Wife agree with the antifeminist stereotypes about women? Does she confirm them? Why or why not?
•What is the Wife of Bath's advice to wise women? What does this advice suggest about her perspective on women and their status in medieval society?
•How does the portrayal of women in Tale compare with their portrayal in her Prologue? How might we account for the differences?
•Does the Tale confirm the assertion that what women most desire is sovereignty over their husbands and lovers? Why or why not?
Consider the mock question -
Literary works often show men and women struggling to resolve problems and not succeeding very well.
Using the information above (weebly), write a one to two paragraph discussion (no more than one page typed) of how women struggle against social stereotypes in the WoB. Remember to include context! Please type this up and submit to me on Thursday 6th March.
•Does the Wife agree with the antifeminist stereotypes about women? Does she confirm them? Why or why not?
•What is the Wife of Bath's advice to wise women? What does this advice suggest about her perspective on women and their status in medieval society?
•How does the portrayal of women in Tale compare with their portrayal in her Prologue? How might we account for the differences?
•Does the Tale confirm the assertion that what women most desire is sovereignty over their husbands and lovers? Why or why not?
Consider the mock question -
Literary works often show men and women struggling to resolve problems and not succeeding very well.
Using the information above (weebly), write a one to two paragraph discussion (no more than one page typed) of how women struggle against social stereotypes in the WoB. Remember to include context! Please type this up and submit to me on Thursday 6th March.
topic_sentences_society_gender_power.docx | |
File Size: | 95 kb |
File Type: | docx |