The Wife of Bath: the O.G. Feminist

The Wife of Bath is an interesting person, to say the least.  She has been married to five different men, wears extravagant things, and has a little bit of satire.  However, I believe her most dashing trademark is that she could possibly be the first feminist, if she meant it or not. 

            The first reason why I believe that she is the Original Feminist is the way she deals with an abusive husband.  Most people in our current society can agree that beating your wife is really not a good idea, well, unless you’re Ray Rice.  However, she was living in a time were popular reading consisted of telling men that no matter how your wife acts, good or bad, she will cause you hardship.  Better yet, she lived in a time period were there were no laws in place to protect anyone from spousal abuse. 

            So here is the Wife of Bath, listening to a misogynistic reading from her husband.  What does she do? She rips a page out of his book.  What does he do? Beats her till she is deaf in one ear. What does she do? SHE HAS HIM LEAN OVER SAYING SHE WANTS A KISS BEFORE SHE DIES AND THEN SMACKS HIM! Although the feminist movement doesn’t condom violence, that is a pretty gutsy move.   Her husband then tells her that she can now be the boss following that scene.  So, yeah, she may be beaten and deaf in one ear, but at least she got equality in the end. 

            Secondly, I believe that she is an original feminist because she fights for the right to equality.  In lines seventy-one onwards she discusses that she does not find it fair that women are held to such high standards about intercourse.  She brings up the question, “why can’t I have sex if all these men are not suppose to be virgins?” Which is a great question.  Why shouldn’t females have the same right to do what they please with their bodies?

            Then backtracking a little bit, in lines thirty one to thirty three she tries to go around the Bible, which is, once again, pretty gutsy for the fourteenth century.  Her theory is that if she is married, sex is free game with whom she wants.  And, yes, she acknowledges the fact that the Bible would prefer if she was just a virgin, but you can’t tell that Wife of Bath what to do.

            Finally, I think she tears down the gender binary once again with something as simple as riding horses.  In the text she is described as wearing spurs on her boots while riding.  Traditionally, women were never (until recently and that’s only in certain forms of Western style) known to wear spurs because it was considered an aggressive and “manly-man” construct.  The Wife of Bath did not care, she actually did not care so much, that she rode straddling the horse. 

            The Wife of Bath is the original Feminist, sorry Christine de Pizan.