Looking At The Wife Of Bath From A Feminist Perspective

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales were written when men thought women were inferior to men. Chaucer uses antifeminist sentiments to satirize this notion that women are inferior. Chaucer creates Alison in order to satirize the stereotypes of women. Alison, Wife Of Bath, expresses her views on marriage, women’s roles, and contradicts the customs which oppress women. Alison is not interested in women dominating the men. Instead, she is aiming to create a power balance between men & women.

Alison attacks the double standards and shortcomings of the gender roles to demonstrate that hers is the better way. She uses clever methods to draw attention to the disparities. The wife from Bath makes her first point saying that Christ has “taught me by this very example/That I shouldn’t be married more then once” (Chaucer, 219). She went on to say…

Abraham is a man of God.

Jacob as well, I believe;

They had two wives each, and they were both more than happy to have them.

There are many more holy men. (220)

Alison dispels stigma against women who marry multiple times by recalling these holy men’s lives. She explains that holy men too can have several wives.

She continues to explain that she has the necessary experience to support these claims because of her five marriages. She continues to say, “Three husbands had been good, two bad/The 3 good ones, were very old and wealthy,” “[t]hey [had] given [her] the land and property”(224). Alison says that the old husbands have more power because they are richer and continue to be comfortable after they die. Alison’s tirade reaches its climax when she mentions her favorite and fifth husband. The wife claims that her husband’s fifth is especially cruel when it comes to judging women by displaying his education. He reads Alison a chapter from a wicked wife’s book, which causes a fight. The husband’s realization that he must give up to her is the result of their fight. They now have a relationship based on mutual respect, kindness and understanding. “Not only did he give her the management of land and house, but also his tongue” (239). She has taken the lead in her own life and has mastered her husband.

The story begins with Arthur’s Knights raping an innocent young maid. This shows that women were still ruled by men even in the days of chivalry. Guinevere is then given the responsibility of deciding the fate of the knight, which leads him on a journey to find out what women want. Alison reverses roles in society by placing the fate and the life of the knight into the hands the queen, rather than the king. The story is centered around the needs of women, not men. The old hag tells the knight that she has the answer to his quest. The hag demands that the knight marry her. He relents and gives up his masculine, youthful power in exchange for her feminine, ancient wisdom. Alison makes the hag reveal “[w]omen want to be in control/Of their husbands and lovers” (245). After the knight marries the hag and receives her answer, she offers him the choice of whether to marry a woman who is beautiful and loyal or ugly and treacherous. The knight answers:

Select the one that you find most enjoyable.

You and I both find it a great honour.

I’ll take either one or the other;

What you like, I’ll accept. (250)

This resignation shows the hag that she is in control over her knight husband. The hag offers the knight both beauty and loyalty with her newly acquired power. Alison’s moral is that if the knight gives his power to an ugly hag and she makes him happy, he will be a happy man.

Chaucer uses Alison his feminist to transmit knowledge he learned in his marriage. This story shows that women are convinced the only path to happiness is for the pendulum in their direction. The men must relent to the women’s power, but this only lasts for a short time. After that, the relationship becomes more equal and balanced. The wife is not just clever and witty. She’s also a sensitive individual who knows the importance of having a balanced relationship.