The Wife of Bath explains the experience of authority verses "The thing women most desire" ; which is complete control over their husbands. Because the wife has had five husbands, she feels entitled to speak to anyone with authority. From all her experiences with the men in her life, in this tale, she essentially tells us how she was able to get the upper hand with all of them. Thus, gaining sovereignty.
The Wife of Bath carefully views scriptures and the word of God to validate her actions. "I trowe he hadde wyves mo than oon, As wolde God it leveful were unto me, to be refreshed half so ofte as he (103, 36-39)!" Her knowledge of the bible reveals to me that she isn't a simple minded women. She takes into consideration every action she partakes in. In fact, she even confesses that she cannot find anything wrong with having one or more marriages.
Once the Wife of Bath moves on from scripture. She does admit that she enjoys sex and is not ashamed of it. Personally, I like the Wife of Bath! She is real, and doesn’t care how others feel about her, which is exactly how she should feel. She feels as though women should be submissive especially when it comes to sex. Nothing is wrong with what the wife of bath is doing. If pleasing her man is what she likes to do, and she has the power to do it why stop her? She is fulfilling a sex craze lifestyle!
Although I fully support the decisions the wife of bath makes, all her cases do go against the authorities of the church. The great thing about her is that her arguments are not only good, but she too portrays a perfect picture of a women. She is a woman who is strong, independent, and responsible. Yes she may have lost all her youth and beauty after five husbands.Non the less she is still standing and has survived all hardships she's faced. She enjoys everything about her life, and that is something that no one can take away from her.
I agree that many of the Wife's actions go against the church but I also applaud her for finding a way to have the scripture back her actions. She'd make a good PR person. I'm a fan of her, even if I don't necessarily support all of her actions. I like her spunk and I like that she does what she wants. It's something I can really respect.
ReplyDeleteThe Wife of Bath is the ultimate pioneer of feminism! What women want isn't total power, it's the right to be taken care of by the one's whose duty that is, and if they don't do their job, she should be able to do it herself. This is feminism, not the idea that women are more powerful than their husbands or we can do anything better than men. Chaucer the narrator seems to like her, considering if he doesn't like someone it's blatant. But even if he didn't, I can't imagine she would care. You do you, WOB.
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