The Wife Of Bath Literary Analysis

1. The story opens with a description of the transition of the spring season. The weather becomes warmer, the birds come out to sing, and flowers reopen themselves up to the world. April showers bring the greenery back to life. This can also be said about the humans excited for tolerable weather. By celebrating the vitality and richness of spring, it gives the opening lines a dreamy feel which invokes romantic elements of a love story. To the reader’s surprise though, the story is not about a romance at all, but a pilgrimage. Excited for beautiful weather, everyone seems to be planning out a venture to distant lands for spiritual indulgence.

2. The setting of springtime provides a symbol of rebirth and fresh beginnings which seems appropriate
The Wife of Bath uses the prologue to explain that what women most desire is complete control over their husbands. Because she has had five husbands, the Wife feels that she can speak with authority from this experience, and, in the prologue, she tells how she got the upper hand with each of them. The tale carries this basic thesis that what women truly want is control in their lives. The tale relates to the wife of bath’s own experience with her fifth husband who is twenty years younger than she is. The narrator tells the story about an old hag who gains control over her youthful husband. This directly correlates with what happened to her in her own life. In the choice the hag offers the knight, both choices seem intolerable. Thus, when he lets her make the decision, he hand over the control to her turning the medieval world-picture completely around. Just as the Wife did in real life with the faking of her death to scare her husband into
This type of story is referred to as a beast fable in which animals act like human beings. To suggest that animals behave like humans is to suggest that humans often behave like animals. The story showcases an ironic contrast between the barnyard and the real world. This contrast is comments on human nature, made clear when Don Russel praises Chaunticleer to sing, and the flattery blinds Chaunticleer to the treachery. Here, shows how flattery can lead to treachery. Chaunticleer's escapes because of his clever use of flattery. Don Russel learns that he should not babble or listen to flattery when it is better to keep quiet. Chaunticleer, in the end, learns that flattery and pride should not be in