Prologue vs. Tale In the short story “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue/Tale” from the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, the author discusses the lifestyle of a women in untraditional ways. In the time when women were expected to be submissive toward men, Alyson had radical views when it came to women and marriage. There are many similarities between the prologue and her tale. The most obvious similarity is that both women wanted dominance over their husbands. There is a comparable character between the old hag and Alyson and the knight having an alike personality as Alyson’s fifth husband. Although the Wife of Bath discusses her life story in the prologue as a personal biography, she also portrays her morals in the “Wife of Bath Tale”, which the resemblance far outweigh themselves. …show more content…
She struggles dominance over her fifth husband because of her love for him was involved. Nevertheless, Alyson accomplishes her initial intention. “Now, by that good lord who called Saint James, you will not, through it might make you crazy, be master of both my goods; one of them you’ll forgo, to spite your eyes” (318-321). By saying this, she tells her husbands that they cannot be master of both her body and possessions, they must pay for one with the other. She deliberately uses her manipulative ways to have them to willingly hand over this power, consciously or unconsciously. Likewise, the old hag gains controlled over her husband when the knight places her in the dominate position, if this was not given to her, both would have continued unhappily in their