The Wife of Baths Tale

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The Wife of Baths Tale

• Presentation By Renae Reich

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Genre

• The Wife of Baths Tale is categorized as a
  romance but could be called a fabliaux.

Discusses the love life between men and
women. Yet discusses them in a way that makes
you laugh.
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Character Description

• The wife of bath believes herself an expert on
  the relationships between men and women.
• She is a very direct and opinionated woman.
• She tells the tale of women and their true
  desires.

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Prologue Summary

• Introduces the wife as a person who talks openly
  about her personal experiences.
• The wife is quick to ignore her Christian
  principles when discussing her marriages and then
  returns to the principles of being fruitful and
  multiplying. She uses many lines from the bible
  to support her personal action.

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Her Many Husbands

• Three of her husbands were mature men
• Two of them were young .
• The three caring husbands were rich, old, and
  kind, and the Wife of Bath knew how to manipulate
  them by withholding sex until she got what she
  wanted.
• The fourth husband was young and had a mistress
  with the marriage. The two had met their matches
  in one another, as they shared many of the same
  qualities, until he unfortunately dies.
• The fifth husband was a cruel man, he was
  violent.
• A student living with her friend while she was
  married to her 4th husband
• when the 4th husband died, they got married, he
  was half the age of the Wife
• He cited Roman history as proof that a wife
  should be submissive, yet the Wife of Bath could
  not be submissive in a way that he liked.

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Wife of Baths Character Lifestyle

• She led a wild and outgoing lifestyle as stated
  in the prologue.
• Has different morals than the general people in
  this time period.

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Chaucers feelings about the character

• Chaucer disagrees with the way the wife of Bath
  lives. From the beginning of the prologue he has
  her defending herself and her way of life to all
  the other pilgrims.

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Time Period

• Renaissance time period
• The Wife of Bath is ahead of her time.
• Many marriages and divorces isnt morally
  accepted.
• Women are expected to be seen and not heard.
• The men are in charge generally in this time
  period.

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Summary

• One day a maiden was walking home alone when she
  was raped by one of the kings knights.
• The crime of rape is usually sentenced to death
  but the queen begged to save the knights life.
• She told the knight she could save his life if he
  could answer one question, What do women desire.

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Summary

• The queen gave the king one year to find his
  answer.
• He searched and searched but couldnt find a
  satisfactory answer. He was told wealth, status,
  sexual performance, happiness, and other such
  answers, but never found the one he was looking
  for.
• Before he gave up he met an old women who would
  give him the answer if he would marry her. She
  said that women desire control and power over
  their husbands .

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Summary

• This was the correct response and knight
  immediately wished death upon himself for he felt
  the old lady was ugly and she called him a snob.
• The women decided to give the knight a choice.
• He could marry her, an ugly old woman who is kind
  and devoted, or have a young, beautiful maiden
  with independence.
• He choose the old woman and proceeded to kiss her
  old body. When they kissed, the old woman
  transformed into a beautiful young lady. The two
  lived happily ever after.

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Literary Techniques

• Theme Finding a Women's true desire.
• Tone Pleasant, Enjoyable

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Chaucers Thoughts

• Chaucer likes the wife of bath and finds her vary
  amusing, but he knows that her ideas are not
  accepted by the other pilgrims.
• Her prologue describes her very in depth
• He has spent a lot of time on her story
• He shows that she isnt accepted by placing my
  argumentative interruptions in the prologue

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Moral of the Story

• A person will do many things to save lives their.
• Even if the right thing seems hard, if you make
  the right choice it will all work out in the end.
• Chaucers point was made when the Knight agreed
  to marry the old women to save his life, because
  she could give him the answer.

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Current times

• The wife of bath compares to any woman today who
  gets married or divorced without any second
  thoughts.
• You could also compare her to anyone who stands
  out against normal standards.