Wife of Bath (The Canterbury Tales)

## Summary

### The Canterbury Tales Overview

The story in which the Wife of Bath originates from the the Canterbury Tales. This story was written by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. Chaucer wrote many works in his life time, one of the most popular is the Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tales is attributed to the wide spread use of Middle English during its time of publication. Chaucer wrote this story as a satirical play on class stereotypes. In his work he addresses some of the hard hitting facts about how each class lived during his time. He was a popular writer then and now[1].

### The Wife of Bath Overview

The Wife of Bath is one of the twenty-seven characters in the Canterbury Tales. The Wife of Bath as well as the other characters are on a journey to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury[2]. In this work she is to tell two stories on the way to the shrine and two on the way back[2] as a part of the contest that the Narrator is holding during a group of people going on their pilgrimage. The winner of this contest will receive a meal courtesy of the rest of the pilgrims when they return from the shrine.

The Wife of Bath describes herself as a professional wife. Her actual occupation though is a seamstress. She has been married five times as well as had many different affairs. She is a very religious woman taking pride in her faith as well as the fact that she is only to be married within the church. The Wife of Bath tells about herself as someone who like to be married as well as takes pleasure in expensive items, arguing, and talking[2]. She is educated in the sense of common sense and well traveled making her very experienced in love and life. She has been on three pilgrimages in her life before the one that she takes in the Canterbury Tales.

### Story Summary Brief Overview

This knight found a beautiful young maiden and was overcome by her beauty and forces himself upon her. Seeing this horrible crime is a sentenced to death by beheading. The queen asks the king to spare the man if he can, in one year, find out what a woman truly wants.

According to Wife of Bath she came across this man and said that women want to be revered and in charge She tells the story of Midas as proof how he had "ass's ears" and his wife wanted to tell someone so badly about this secret. The knight takes this tale and tells the queen that women want control and she spares his life.

In this tale the Wife of Bath tells the tale of how there was an ugly old hag who was turned into a pretty and desired woman if the men treat them well.

## Characteristics

Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales keeping in mind the common stereotypes for each class. The rich wear expensive clothing with coloration. Colors were a rare occurrence due to the fact that dye had to be handmade and or imported[2]. The poor were not as well dressed and most times had rundown clothing[3].

### Description

The Wife of Bath is not her actual name. Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales names his characters after their occupation rather than giving them actual names such as the Plowman and the Knight. Bath is not her actual husband's name though in her case, Bath is the name of a river in a very rich part of England thus illustrating right off the bat that she comes from wealth. She is very worldly and presents herself as one that loves sex and speaking. She does have a gap in her very front teeth and cannot hear out of one ear. She is described as having a large bottom and is very pink in the face. Another illustration of her wealth is her clothing. It is red which means that it comes from imported dies that were handmade from crushed beetles. Wife of Bath has a very dominating personality and boasts of her control over her past husbands. She is also described as surpassing well known overseas clothing workers speaking to her skills at her job[4].

### Class

This story was written during the Middle Ages (14th century) by Chaucer. social classes were very clear and distinctive. Figuring out which character is associated to a social class within the feudalism system is the task. There are four groups that makes the entire Feudalism system. The wealthiest class with the most respect is royalty, which is followed by the noble. Both royalty and noble had a few things in common, one being clothes made from fine materials with bright colors. Next there would be the tradesmen and merchants, then the peasants.

 One of the supposed reasons that Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales is because he was illustrating the need for social change. For the first time there was literature written for the general people and not just the upper class. During this period too there was also another emerging class known as the middle class. This would change the social dynamic of early England. One of the main reasons for the popularity of the Canterbury Tales is due to the fact that it does illustrate the stereotype social constructs that existed and shine them in a more true-to-life light along with the fact that this work was able to bring Middle English language and structure to lower classes unlike any other.

### A Woman's Role

People in the respective categories were expected to remain within their class and any slight change from one class to another was considered to be a serious offence. In all these categories, the role of the women remained unchanged. They were supposed to live a highly restrictive life with their life centered around their husband and subsequently their children."[6] This means that the Wife of Bath was a very revolutionary character for women. She had her own opinions as well as thoughts. From the fact that she was able to punch her husband in the face without fear shows that she was a very powerful woman.

In this way the Wife of Bath was very contradictory to the standards that were held during his time. Higher class women were to "... [spend] most of their time attending tea parties and balls and the remaining time they would spend in knitting and horseback riding. Women had several attendants to look after them. They were expected to be highly educated. Their main job was to effectively instruct the servants on what is to be done and to groom younger girls of the same class (nobility) to become women."[6] Few women were self employed at this time as well.

The Wife of Bath did indeed take up to be a wife but she did not do so in the normal fashion. She was promiscuous, unafraid to bring to light what she had done in the past. She was also very bold in everything she did, her character biography even said that she enjoyed arguing as one of her past times, something uncharacteristic of women in that time. The wife of Bath also worked for herself unlike many upper class women who did not work and took pride in the fact.

Chaucer is a master at both showing stereotypes for each gender as well as creating a total juxtapose of their characteristics.

### A Day in the Life

A day in the life of a "normal" upper class Victorian woman would entail tending to the house and often times simply mingling with others of the same class was all that was done. Since the Victorian Era was extremely class based[7] the classes did not intermingle. The main focus of the women in this time was their family.

For Wife of Bath, her main focus in the story was her own pleasure taken in life, this is characteristic of the upper class since they did live a life of luxury. Wife of bath did have a family life mainly with her husband(s). Most of her time would have most likely been spent either engaging in intimate relations or traveling based upon her stories and character biography.

## Symbolism

Symbolism is a very important aspect of every story. It adds extra depth and underlying meaning to objects and phrasing. Chaucer favors symbolism in his work of the Canterbury Tales. He uses his symbolism to show irony in his characters.

### Wife of Bath Symbolism

Wife of Bath in and of herself is a symbol for the upper class with her outward appearance but is very different in her acts. That is Chaucer's way of showing the inconstant outward portrayal and actions of people. Wife of Bath's personality was a symbolical challenge of what the average woman was making her a symbol for change as well as a symbol for the current flaws. She was a tool for Chaucer to illustrate female sovereignty.[8] Her first story shows this. Her second story she shows that she, even at her old age, is still desirable through means of symbolism if them men treat her well.

Wife of Bath also portrays herself as a very religious zealot but her actions show the dysfunction with the church's belief that, if you repent, you will be forgiven. She continues her "unholy" actions without repercussions after repenting making no change to her unjust actions much like many of the members of the church at this time. This is Chaucer's way of showing the problems within the church and the corruption.

Chaucer also uses the company on the pilgrimage as a way to show that company is important.

## Middle English

Middle English was used around the years 1150 to 1500. This was one of the many stepping stones that English transitioned through to end up as what we know as modern English today. During this time Middle English did not have a central structure due to fact that different methods of obtaining knowledge on such a language were varied on their teachings and applications.[9]

### Language implications of Chaucer

Chaucer has one very large, significant role in Middle English. He is known as the "Father of English Poetry" due to the fact that he wrote for the common people. His popularity helped revolutionize the standardization of Middle English. Rather than before when literature was only written for the wealthy, Chaucer wrote his works for everyone. That is why he is known as a revolutionary in the English culture.

## References

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-geoffrey-chaucer-called-father-english-poetry-94895

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Canterbury\_Tales

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle\_English

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas\_Becket

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/pilgrimage

http://englishnovel2.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/2014/02/10/on-social-class-and-a-criticism-of-emmas-character/

http://www.infonotizia.it/the-wife-of-bath-traduzione-in-italiano/

[3] http://www.j2e.com/?id=a2J3RHRhdVBremJCeGN6TA==&wp&blog=-1

http://www.librarius.com/cantales.htm

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/chaubib.htm

[8] https://www.shmoop.com/the-wife-of-baths-tale/symbolism-imagery.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/canterbury/themes.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/canterbury/section8.rhtml

[4] http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/canterbury/character/the-wife-of-bath/

[2] http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/canterbury/summary.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/canterbury/section9.rhtml

[7] http://www.victorian-era.org/

[6] http://www.victorian-era.org/roles-of-women-in-the-victorian-era.html

[5] http://www.victorian-era.org/victorian-era-upper-class.html

## Bibliography

"The Canterbury Tales." N.p., n.d. Web.

"The Canterbury Tales." N.p., n.d. Web.

"The Canterbury Tales Summary Continued." N.p., n.d. Web.

"The Canterbury Tales Summary." N.p., n.d. Web.

"The Canterbury Tales Themes." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Chaucer, the Father of English Literature." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Easy Bib." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Life in the Victorian Era." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Middle English." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Pilgrimage." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Roles of Women." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Social Class." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Thomas Becket." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Victorian Era." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Victorian Era Upper Class." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Wife of Bath." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Wife of Bath Summary." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Wife of Bath Symbolism." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Wife of Bath Translation from Italian." N.p., n.d. Web.

"Works of Geoffrey Chaucer." N.p., n.d. Web.