Alison's Adjectives

“A good WIF was ther of biside BATHE,” (I, 445). From the very first line in her introduction, Alison is defined as a wife, and most importantly, a “good wife”. Everything about her is exaggerated, from the number of husbands she had, “Housbondes at chirche dore she hadde fyve,” (I, 460), to the times she travelled to Jerusalem, “And thries hadde she been at Jerusalem;” (I, 463), and finally to her physical appearance, “A foot-mantel aboute hir hipes large,” (I, 472). Her greatest talents are cloth-making and knowing the remedies of love. Varied adjectives such as “deef”, “wrooth”, “fair” face, “worthy”, “gap-toothed”, and “large” hips define her. All of these descriptions make Alison seem more of a real woman than a fictional character. She is not flawless and most of the adjectives used leads the reader to thinking of a representative woman of her society. Her actions in
91). In this regard, the Wife is given subjectivity. Her guide are experiences rather than authority, “EXPERIENCE, tough noon auctoritee / Were in this world, is right ynogh for me / To speke of wo that is mariage;” (III, 1-3), and she comments on her past, her actions and feelings, her beliefs and the rules of society which she belongs to and everyone adheres. Essentially, Alison does two things in her Prologue: she gives an account of her love life and defends it. Her defense is mainly made by criticizing the medieval patriarchal society she lives in, provided her experiences as a wife, her traveling, her profession as a cloth-maker and her experiences with trading and different social classes. Patterson (1983, p. 664) describes her as a woman who “combines the roles of widow and go-between: she is an entremetteuse who prepares the way to