The Power Of The Wife In The Shipman's Tale

In “The Shipman’s Tale,” the wife is given no name, however, she is likely the most dominant and powerful character out of the stories I have selected. She is the wife of a skillful merchant, “A wyf he hadde of excellent beautee; / And compaignable and revoulous was she” (VII.3-4). Her power lies within her qualities, her abilities, and her willingness to fend for herself when her husband is away for work and fails to provide for her. The wife asserts her own agency by being independent and just as skillful as her merchant husband. Woods argues, “the wife embodies the conflicts inherent in a marriage assimilated to the mercantile imperative of buying and selling and quid per quo” (139). While the merchant may be wise and rich, the wife is just

Since the wife appears unsatisfied with their financial agreements, she must attain money in her own way. Her husband is far too business-centered and neglectful to provide for her. In order to get her own money, she does so by economizing her body and asking the visiting monk for 100 francs. She manipulates the monk into giving her money by exclaiming her distaste and dissatisfaction for her husband, “[m]yn housbonde is to me the worste man/ That evere was sith that the world bigan (VII.1351-1352). She then pleads for him to give her the money and in return she will do whatever he

Instead of the situation blowing up, the wife is able to continually assert her power with her body and her skillful qualities as a merchant, “[a]s a result of her secret expenditures on clothing, her subsequent duping at the hands of Dan John, and her own boldness and quick wit, she is able to assert a measure of authority over her husband, array herself for his ‘honour’ and generally bring greater satisfaction to both of them” (Schneider 207). In turn, this helps to restore their marriage as she agrees to repay the loan by yet again economizing her body. However, it is for husband now, “Toward the end of the tale, the wife sells herself yet again, this time to her husband, and not just once but many times, in many pieces, because she intends to pay by the installment plan: ‘score it upon my taille’ (Woods 147). It is unclear if she is content with this arrangement with her husband, however, it is clear that she now has the authority and power in the relationship despite having to continually sell herself. In the end, their marriage is seen as a business transaction, “Her body is a ‘token’ of their agreement, and for their marriage, just as it served as a ‘redy token’ (a receipt) for the hundred