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Similarities Between The Wife Of Bath And Modern Women

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Recommended: How are women portrayed through literature

Brooklyn Bailey
Mrs. Jackson
British Literature
3 March 2023
“Wife of bath” and the Modern Women

Throughout time women have been fighting for their rights to be seen, heard, and treated as equally, and it was not until the last fifty to one hundred years that women were able to be taken a little more seriously as individuals. However, throughout history, dating back long ago there is countless stories of women tying to claim their freedom, one such story this can be seen in is Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath”. “The Wife of Bath” is a story that was written a long time ago but still reveals modern elements and modern-day characters. One character in particular, Alison, is proven to be different from other people of her gender and …show more content…

Not only her thoughts and beliefs show her as a modern character but the actions she partakes in and the way she is written by the author suggest her to be more open about herself rather than staying confined to normal societal gender roles and norms. Chaucer’s focus on the wife of bath involves painting her face and body in a sexually suggestive manner (The Historical Perception of the Wife of Bath). By him doing this he is pointing out the suggestive actions she takes by just being herself, since even her body is considered sexual. Allison is a woman who believes in great power for herself “she is a strong willed women who herself gets what she wants when she wants it.” (The Historical Perception of the Wife of Bath) This a representation of a modern-day female character because it points out determination and the idea of not needing nor wanting a man to take what you want in life. Allison owns her sexuality and sensuality by saying herself that she uses it to her advantage “she is described as knowing “all the remedies of love” since she is so experienced with men”. (The Historical Perception of the Wife of Bath). This makes her stand out from other female characters of the time by her not only being recognized as getting her way with men but she boast about it herself. Allisons character discusses how she can and how she does manipulate men to get what she wants from them. While she is wise …show more content…

Geoffrey Chaucer’s depiction of Allison, The Wife of Bath, is segway that opens the potential for women and their control and shows what they are capable of. The relation of this to modern female characters today is presented in the story by showing determination and capability to adapt and use what you know to get ahead and the ability for women to prove themselves as more than a housewife. The idea surrounding women and their involvement in society is blurred by this tale of a women proving her point of women’s true desires as she strives to point out. All of these characteristics are present from a story even though that it was written in between thirteen eighty-seven and fourteen hundred it is still a story with characteristics of a modern-day female

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Chaucer’s Portrayal of the Wife of Bath The Wife of Bath presents the reader with a woman who compiles to the stereotypes corresponding with the negative misogyny of women during the medieval times. Wife of Bath is viewed the same as this stereotypical woman. Some can agree with Chaucer’s choice of these negative traits of The Wife of Bath, but the same conclusion is always met. Chaucer chooses to display the Wife of Bath as a misogynistic symbol of negative traits in order to use her as an object of mockery.

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Chaucer characterizes The Wife of Bath as controlling and powerful. The Wife of Bath was a complete contradiction of the typical female, during this time. The average woman was submissive and reserved. Whereas, The Wife of Bath possessed character traits that one would associate with men. Chaucer emphasizes this trait by describing her in such ways one would describe a man.

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Chaucer writes The Wife of Bath as a character who is superior to her husbands and as a woman who embraces her sexuality to the fullest extent. Through this characterization, she is able to defy the patriarchal society that is threatening to oppress her. She breaks the chains of ownership and finds a way to reverse the gender roles, by instead “chaining” her husbands. Yet, despite all of this, The Wife of Bath still succumbs to the idea that women are only relevant through their physical attributes by not only herself, but Chaucer as

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The Wife of Bath’s behaviors are questionable but are inherently aided by the social injustices that face women of this time period. The Wife of Bath discloses that for her first three marriages she sought out older wealthy men for sex and money. Her intentions included making her husbands fall in love with her and then making them have enormous amounts of sex until they die. In addition, the wife elaborates on her occasional tumultuous tirades of accusing her husbands of being unfaithful to her. Her uproars chided her husbands into persistently obliging into her every request.

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The Wife of Bath exudes confidence while embracing her desire for control. Additionally, it is stated in the story that she had been married five times before and was said to be proud of the experiences. To further illustrate, the article “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” written by Emma Lipton states, “... She is proud of her marriage experience and believes the more she marries, the better she is… .” The article also states that The Wife of Bath believed men used power, money, and religion to control women, so in exchange, she would use her body and sexuality to control her husbands (Lipton).

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