The Wife of Bath by Geoffrey Chaucer

Table of Contents

Introduction
Discussion
Conclusion
Work Cited

Introduction

In The Wife of Bath, Geoffrey Chaucer uses the technique of confronting a male-dominated reality with a woman who is unwilling to accept it. The most critical social problem that Chaucer raises is the total disregard for womens desires by men who are in power and have their way.

Discussion

In the tale, Chaucer focuses on showing the personal development of the wife of Bath who mocks all her previous marriages. He contrasts the wife of Bath and the medieval structure of society. The wife does not belong to the society she is forced to live in: she is more intelligent than men and opposes historical culture and the churchs chimes (The Tale of the Wife of Bath). From the perspective of medieval literature, the image of the wife is entirely inconsistent with social beliefs and expectations about a womans behavior. Chaucer tells of the Wife of Baths experience of being abused by her husband (she even went deaf), but that did not stop her from hitting him back (The Tale of the Wife of Bath). Another example is how the wife of Bath stands against the male domination of marriage and relationships: marriage is a mutual obligation, and the failure to fulfill it renders marriage meaningless. To demonstrate this, Chaucer refers to scripture (The Tale of the Wife of Bath). He shows that religion significantly affects the structure of society and creates social constraints on women. His point is that equality in marriage and social status must be achieved because only women know what women want. He uses the narrative in a way that immerses the reader in the social problem of the Middle Ages: women are in a subordinate position and have to come to terms with it.