The Wife of Bath is a woman who lives in a time where men are in charge and women are submissive. She is a complicated who seems to be narcissistic however there is more to her than meets the eye. Throughout the prologue, it seems clear that she is vindictive towards those who do not follow along as she pleases. She likes to have control of the situation, even when she is in physical danger, she continues her ways of getting under a man’s skin.
After having read some sources that discuss the Lady of Bath’s prologue and tale, it seems that there may be more to the Lady of Bath than meets the eye. She may be as narcissistic and vindictive as she seems reading through the tale at first glance, but instead she is a woman who has struggled through life by being married for the first time by the age of 12. Sylvester argues that she may not necessarily have wanted to be married so young but instead because she was forced into it she brings out
…show more content…
She does not flat out say, I’m being mistreated please help me, but instead she says that although she is regularly beaten she is also loved by the man. Is she going about the healthiest way of dealing with it? It can be argued that in those times, convincing herself that he is a loving man with temper issues who ultimately means well is the best way for her to go about it since leaving him would not have been an option for her. However, several times throughout their relationship he tries to gain control of her by forbidding to do things she enjoys and expecting her to do as he pleases whenever he wishes. The Wife of Bath uses comedy and her sexual needs to through the audience off of the truth and more into the version that she wants them to know (Sylvester, 252). The Wife of Bath let’s out her frustration and pain by taking part in little actions that frustrated her husband and only cause her greater