The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale
Encyclopedia
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" and prologue are among the best-known of Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...

's Canterbury Tales. They give insight into the role of women in the Late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....

 and are probably of interest to Chaucer himself, for the character is one of his most developed ones, with her prologue twice as long as her tale. He also goes so far as to describe two sets of clothing for her in his General Prologue. She holds her own among the bickering pilgrims, and evidence in the manuscripts suggests that although she was first assigned a different, plainer tale—perhaps the one told by the Shipman
The Shipman's Tale
The Shipman's Tale is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.It is in the form of a fabliau and tells the story of a miserly merchant, his avaricious wife and her lover, a wily monk...

—she received her present tale as her significance increased. She calls herself both Alyson
Alison
- Music:*"Alison" , 1994 single by Slowdive*"Alison" , song by Elvis Costello*"Alison", song by French former child pop star Jordy Lemoine*"Alison Hell", song by Annihilator...

 and Alys in the prologue, but to confuse matters these are also the names of her 'gossib' (a close friend or gossip), whom she mentions several times, as well as many female characters throughout The Canterbury Tales.

The tale is often regarded as the first of the so-called "marriage group" of tales, which includes the Clerk
The Clerk's Prologue and Tale
The Clerk's Tale is the first tale of Group E in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. It is preceded by The Summoner's Tale and followed by The Merchant's Tale. The Clerk of Oxenford is a student of what would nowadays be considered philosophy or theology...

's, the Merchant
The Merchant's Prologue and Tale
"The Merchant's Tale" is one of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. In it Chaucer subtly mocks antifeminist literature like that of Theophrastus . The tale also shows the influence of Boccaccio , Deschamps' , Roman de la Rose by Guillaume de Lorris , Andreas Capellanus, Statius and Cato...

's and the Franklin
The Franklin's Prologue and Tale
"The Franklin's Tale" is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. It focuses on issues of providence, truth, generosity and gentillesse in human relationships.- Structure of the Tale :...

's tales. But some scholars contest this grouping, first proposed by Chaucer scholar Eleanor Prescott Hammond and subsequently elaborated by George Lyman Kittredge
George Lyman Kittredge
George Lyman Kittredge was a celebrated professor and scholar of English literature at Harvard University. His scholarly edition of the works of William Shakespeare' as well as his writings and lectures on Shakespeare and other literary figures made him one of the most influential American...

, not least because the later tales of Melibee
The Tale of Melibee
The Tale of Melibee is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.This is the second tale told by Chaucer himself as a character within the tales...

 and the Nun's Priest also discuss this theme. A separation between tales that deal with moral issues and ones that deal with magical issues, as the Wife of Bath's does, is favoured by some scholars.

Synopsis

A knight in King Arthur's court rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

s a woman in a wheat field. By law, his crime is punishable by death, but the queen and the knight's lovers intercede on his behalf, and the king turns the knight over to her for judgment. The queen punishes the knight by sending him out on a quest to find out what women really want "more than anything else," giving him a year and a day to discover it and having his word that he will return. If he fails to satisfy the queen with his answer, he forfeits his life. He searches, but every woman he finds says something different, from rich
Rich
Rich may refer to wealth. Rich may also refer to:- Organizations :* B.C. Rich, guitar manufacturer* Rich Products, international food products corporation* Rich's, U.S. department store retail chain in the southern U.S....

es to flattery
Flattery
Flattery is the act of giving excessive compliments, generally for the purpose of ingratiating oneself with the subject....

. A year later, on his way back to the queen after failing to find the truth, he comes upon an old hag
Hag
A hag is a wizened old woman, or a kind of fairy or goddess having the appearance of such a woman, often found in folklore and children's tales such as Hansel and Gretel. Hags are often seen as malevolent, but may also be one of the chosen forms of shapeshifting deities, such as the Morrígan or...

 whom he asks for help. She says she'll tell him the answer that will save him if he promises to grant her request at a time she chooses. He agrees and they go back to the court where the queen pardons him after he explains that what women want most is sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

 over their husbands, and the Queen accepts this as the correct answer. As her reward, the old woman demands that the knight marry her. He protests, but to no avail, and the marriage takes place the next day. That night in their marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 bed, the knight confesses that he is unhappy because she is ugly and low-born. She tells the knight that he can choose between her being ugly and faithful or beautiful and unfaithful. He gives the choice to her; pleased with the mastery of her husband, she becomes fair and faithful and lives with him happily until the end of their days.

The tale is an example of the "loathly lady
Loathly lady
The loathly lady is a common literary device used in medieval literature, most famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale. The motif was prominent in Celtic mythology and to a lesser extent Germanic mythology, where the lady often represented the sovereignty of the...

" motif, the oldest examples of which are the medieval Irish sovereignty myths such as Niall of the Nine Hostages
Niall of the Nine Hostages
Niall Noígíallach , or in English, Niall of the Nine Hostages, son of Eochaid Mugmedón, was an Irish king, the eponymous ancestor of the Uí Néill kindred who dominated Ireland from the 6th century to the 10th century...

. In the medieval poem The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle
The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle
The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle is a 15th-century English poem, one of several versions of the "loathly lady" story popular during the Middle Ages...

, Arthur's nephew Gawain
Gawain
Gawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...

 goes on a nearly identical quest to discover what women truly want after he errs in a land dispute. Some have theorized that the Wife's tale may have been written to ease Chaucer's guilty conscience. It is recorded that in 1380 associates of Chaucer stood surety
Surety
A surety or guarantee, in finance, is a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults...

 for an amount equal to half his yearly salary for a charge brought by Cecily Champaign for "de rapto," rape or abduction; the same view has been taken of his Legend of Good Women, which Chaucer himself describes as a penance.

Antifeminism/Sources

The Wife of Bath’s Prologue both draws from and critiques the long medieval tradition of antifeminist
Antifeminism
Antifeminism is opposition to feminism in some or all of its forms. Modern antifeminists say that the feminist movement has achieved its aims and now seeks higher status for women than for men.-History:...

 texts. As Helen Cooper notes, Alisoun’s “materials are part of the vast medieval stock of antifeminism”, specifically St. Jerome
Jerome
Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...

’s Adversus Jovinianum, which was “written to refute the proposition put forward by one Jovinianus that virginity and marriage were of equal worth”. The simple fact that Alisoun is a widow who remarries more than once suggests a relationship with antifeminist traditions. Further evidence of this can be found through Alisoun’s observation: “For hadde God commanded maydenhede, / Thanne hadde he dampned weddyng with the dede” (III 69-70). Alisoun refutes Jovinianus’ proposition concerning virginity and marriage by noting that God would have condemned marriage and procreation if He had commanded virginity. Her decision to use God as a defense of sorts for her promiscuity is significant, as it shows how the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 is another source that Alisoun draws upon, although her interpretations of Scripture, such as Paul on marriage (III. 158-161), are tailored to suit her own purposes. Nevertheless, while Alisoun in some ways embodies antifeminist beliefs, she resists them as well. For instance, her repeated acts of remarriage are an example of how she mocks “clerical teaching concerning the remarriage of widows”. Actually, as noted by Mary Carruthers
Mary Carruthers
Professor Mary Carruthers is the Erich Maria Remarque Professor of Literature and Professor of English, emerita, at New York University....

, “a rich widow was considered to be a match equal to, or more desirable than, a match with a virgin of property”. Alisoun illustrates this point by describing her ability to remarry four times, and also to attract a man who is much younger than she, Jankyn. Thus, while Alisoun is portrayed as epitomizing antifeminist traditions through her very thoughts and actions, she also attacks them, in part by forcing readers to realize that it is men, including the author Chaucer, who construct them in the first place.

Behavior in Marriage

Mary Carruthers and Helen Cooper reflect on the way that Alisoun, in particular, does not behave as she should in any of her marriages. Through Alisoun’s nonconformity to the expectations of her role as a wife, the audience is shown what proper behavior in marriage should be like. Carruthers’ essay outlines the existence of deportment books, the purpose of which was to teach young women how to be model wives. Carruthers notes how Alisoun’s behavior in the first of her marriages “is almost everything the deportment-book writers say it should not be” (Carruthers 1979: 213). For example, she lies to her old husbands about them getting drunk and saying some regrettable things (III.380-382). Yet, Carruthers does note that the Wife does do a decent job of upholding her husbands’ public honour. Moreover, deportment books taught girls that “the husband deserves control of the wife because he controls the estate” (Carruthers 1979:214); it is clear that Alisoun is the one who controls her husbands in her various marriages. Perhaps this is because her first three husbands are so old “that for syk unnethes myghte they stonde” (III.394). Helen Cooper also notes that behaviour in marriage is a theme that emerges in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue, and although she does look at the character of Alisoun and notes how she did not really exhibit the behavior expected of her, she also describes Jankyn. Cooper notes how Jankyn “cannot be taken as any principle of correct Christian marriage” (Cooper 1996:149). He, too, does not exhibit the kind of behavior that he is supposed to within his marriage, which can perhaps be attributed to his young age and lack of experience in relationships, although he does change at the end, as does Alisoun. Thus, through Alisoun’s and Jankyn’s failure to conform to expected behavior in marriage, readers are taught to realize what proper behavior in marriage likely is–the opposite of Alisoun’s and Jankyn’s.

Female Dominance

As Helen Cooper argues, the theme of female dominance is fundamental to the Wife of Bath’s Prologue. She draws her authority from her own experience; master of the bedroom based on the comments that she makes to her fellow pilgrims. For instance, she notes that:
Unnethe myghte they the statut holde "unnethe" = not easily
In which that they were bounden unto me. "woot" = know
Ye woot wel what I meene of this, pardee! "pardee" = "by God", cf. French "par dieu"
As help me God, I laughe whan I thynke
How pitously a-nyght I made hem swynke! (III.204-208) "hem" = them; "swynke" = work


Alisoun’s husbands are depicted as peasants who must cater to her sexual appetite. Her characterization as master, or sovereign lord, is particularly evident in the following passage:
Of tribulacion in mariage,
Of which I am expert in al myn age –
This is to seyn, myself have been the whippe. (III.179-181)


The image of the whip solidifies her role as master; she tells everyone that she is the one in charge in her household, especially in the bedroom. Alisoun appears to have an insatiable thirst for sex; the result is a satirical, sexual depiction of a woman, but also of feudal power arrangements.

Economics of Love

In her essay, “The Wife of Bath and the Painting of Lions,” Mary Carruthers describes the relationship that existed between love and economics for both medieval men and women. Carruthers notes that it is the independence that Alisoun’s wealth provides for her that allows Alisoun to love freely (Carruthers 1979:216). This implies that autonomy is an important component in genuine love, and since autonomy can only be achieved through wealth, wealth then becomes the greatest component for true love. Love can, in essence, be bought: Chaucer makes reference to this notion when he has Alisoun tell one of her husbands:
Is it for ye wolde have my queynte allone? "queynte" = a nice thing, cf. Latin quoniam, with obvious connotation of "cunt"
Wy, taak it al! Lo, have it every deel! "deel" = "part"; plus, the implication of transaction
Peter! I shrewe yow, but ye love it weel; "Peter" = St. Peter; "shrewe" = curse; hence: "I curse you if you don't love it well."
For if I wolde selle my bele chose, "belle chose": another suggestion of female genitalia (her "lovely thing")
I koude walke as fressh as is a rose;
But I wol kepe it for youre owene tooth. (III.444-449) "tooth" = taste, pleasure


She appears to make reference to prostitution, whereby “love” in the form of sex is a “deal” bought and sold. Alisoun’s use of words such as “dette (debt)” (III.130) and “paiement (payment)” (III.131) also portray love in economic terms, as did the medieval Church: sex was the marriage debt women owed to the men that they married. Hence, while the point that Carruthers makes is that money is necessary for women to achieve sovereignty in marriage, a look at the text reveals that the concept of love is, among other things, an economic concept. This is perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that Jankyn gives up wealth in return for love, honour, and respect.

Sex and Lollardy

While it is quite obvious that sexuality is a dominant theme in The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, it is less obvious that Alisoun’s sexual behaviour can be associated with Lollardy
Lollardy
Lollardy was a political and religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century to the English Reformation. The term "Lollard" refers to the followers of John Wycliffe, a prominent theologian who was dismissed from the University of Oxford in 1381 for criticism of the Church, especially his...

. Critics such as Helen Cooper and Carolyn Dinshaw point to the link between sex and Lollardy. Both describe Alisoun’s knowledge and use of Scripture in her justification of her sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...

ual behaviour. When Alisoun states that “God bad us for to wexe and multiplye” (III.28), she appears to suggest that there is nothing wrong with sexual promiscuity
Promiscuity
In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...

, because God wants humans to procreate. Alisoun’s “emphatic determination to recuperate sexual activity within a Christian context and on the authority of the Bible [on a number of occasions throughout the text] echoes one of the points made in the Lollard Twelve Conclusions of 1395" (Cooper 1996:150). The very fact that she remarries after the death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....

 of her first husband could be viewed as Chaucer’s characterization of Alisoun as a supporter of Lollardy, if not necessarily a Lollard herself, since Lollards advocated the remarriage of widows (Cooper 1996:150; Dinshaw 1999:129).

See also

  • Blaesilla
    Blaesilla
    Blaesilla was the daughter of Paula, and sister of Eustochium, from one of the Senatorial families of Ancient Rome. Blaesilla died young, under the influence of Jerome. She, and her sister and mother , are accorded Sainthood by the Roman Catholic church.Blaesilla, as a young girl, showed a strong...

    , on whom the tale is partly based.
  • Chaucer’s special manuscript words

External links

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