Chaucer's Perspective On The Wife Of Bath

Chaucer paints a very negative perspective of the Wife of Bath. Some biographers take this depiction to represent Chaucer’s personal beliefs toward women in general. It could be argued that Chaucer was simply creating a rich character for his poetry. The details of the Wife of Bath on the way to Canterbury describes a woman that was verbal about her many husbands. “I will tell truth of husbands that I’ve had, For three of them were good and two were bad, The three were good men and were rich and old;” (Wheeler et. al, 351). This description portrays the Wife of Bath as someone who is interested in money rather than in her dedication to her husband. She also blames deafness on her husband, rather than taking responsibility for her behavior. This is seen in “By God, he smote me on the ear, one day, Because I tore out of his book a leaf, So that from this my ear is grown quite deaf, Stubborn I was as is a lioness;” (Wheeler et. al, 361) The example of the Wife of Bath illustrates Chaucer’s ability to create depth of character in very few words. Unfortunately, Chaucer did not complete The Canterbury Tales. If he had completed these stories, it would have totaled one hundred twenty tales (Wheeler et. al, 321).

These included The Book of the Duchess, Triolus and Criseyde, and The Legend of the Good Women (Wheeler et. al, 320). The Book of the Duchess was considered the turning point in Chaucer’s life (“Geoffrey Chaucer, 1998). It was during this time that he met his wife and was elevated in his social status. Troilus and Criseyde is Chaucer’s tragedy, where a young prince fails to obey his obligations, falls in love with the wrong woman, and dies alone and miserable on the battlefield (“Geoffrey Chaucer”, 1998). The Legend of the Good Women was written for Queen Anne along with other short poems for special occasions (Wheeler et. al,