Wife Of Bath: Negative Stereotypes Of Women During The Medieval Period

Dashawn Putman
English
September 29, 2014
Essay #1

During the Medieval Period, women just like the Wife of Bath in Chauncer’s readings were expected to act inferior to their male counterpart. The Wife of Bath’s Prologue can definitely be interpreted as an ironic illustration of this literature. I think this is an ironic illustration of this literature because the Wife of Bath represents the negative stereotypes of women in the medieval period being irrational, material, and earthly that she sought to critique. The Wife of Bath felt that exceptions should be made on certain things that males could do that women weren’t allowed to. Many people criticized the Wife of Bath for wedding 5 different husbands and compared her to the way God lived his life: “But me was toold, certeyn, nat longe agoon is, That sith that Crist ne wente nevere
but onis To weddyng, in the Cane of Galilee, That by the same ensample taughte he me” (9-12)
In these few lines from the text, someone not too long ago, informed the Wife that since Christ only journeyed to the alter only once his lifetime she too should only marry once. The Wife of Bath’s explanation for her numerous marriages is that there isn’t a distinct rule that forbids being able to remarry. The Wife of Bath was also told by someone that Jesus said to a Samaritan woman that basically if she had to marry 5 husbands, by the fifth marriage it really wasn’t much of a marriage. No one has ever presented the Wife with a scripture showing a precise number of how many times a person be should married but she does factual evidence from text that serves as her justification: “God bad us for to wexe and multiplye; That gentil text kan I wel understonde.” (28-29)
In these few lines from the text, The Wife shows how God told us to wax and multiply which is why she can be perceived as being irrational since she had her own perspectives of Scripture and God’s plan.

According to some of the notables clergy of the Church and Saint Paul, the important of virginity was emphasized tremendously because of how sacred it was. Saint Paul wishes for everyone was to remain a virgin because it made no sense for a person’s sole purpose of marrying is to have sex. The Wife of Bath was swayed by her own opinions pertaining to virginity, which was if it was as important as they say, how is someone being allowed to procreate for the production of virgins. The Wife was definitely conniving by the way she used sex as power to dictate and deliberately extorted the men she was with in order to get whatever she wanted: “And everich hath of God a propre yifte -- Som this, som that, as hym liketh shifte. Virginitee is greet perfeccion, (103-105)
He spak to hem that wolde lyve parfitly;
And lordynges, by youre leve, that am nat I. (111-112) In wifehood I will use my instrument” (149)
In these few lines from the text, The Wife of Bath believes that virginity should be left to the people who are perfect, and that the rest should be allowed to utilize their our gifts as they see fit. The Wife of Bath’s preeminent gift is undoubtedly, her sexual power. The Wife tells us that this power she possess will be exploited as an “instrument” to regulate her husbands. The Wife of Bath can be viewed as being materialistic with her gold digger tendencies because her main intention of remarrying is so her husbands can feed her lavish lifestyle. There is no doubt that she plans to spend her old age being married and having sex. The Wife of Bath considered marriage and sex as something natural and that she should be able to do as she pleases.
There should be no one inferior or superior in a relationship, everything should be equal. Since The Wife has already wedded 5 times, there is no one to govern her ways because in her opinion she’s a professional wife: “Experience, though noon auctoritee Were in this world, is right ynogh for me To speke of wo that is in mariage; For, lordynges, sith I twelve yeer was of age, Thonked be God that is eterne on lyve, Housbondes at chirche dore I have had fyve -“ (1-6)
This quote just goes to reassure how even though The Wife had no authority, she assumed that her life experience would suffice. The amount of life experience she had was her justification for defending her rights and those of other women. By the end of the Prologue we see another side of The Wife, instead of fulfilling a combination negative stereotypes she actually seemingly has feelings. All the Wife of Bath seeks to accomplish during her whole prologue is equality for
women.

Works Cited

Chaucer, Geoffrey. "Chaucer: The Wife of Bath 's Prologue and Tale -- An Interlinear Translation." Chaucer: The Wife of Bath 's Prologue and Tale -- An Interlinear Translation. He President and Fellows of Harvard College, 08 Apr. 2008. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.