Chaucers the wife of bath
Chaucers the wife of bathIn the varied group of pilgrims assembled by Chaucer, the Wife of Bath most simply represents a woman of the time. Unlike the Prioress and her nun companion, who are the only other women on the pilgrimage and who represent other things, her sole purpose is to just be a woman. Chaucer says of her, "Of cloth-making hadde swich an haunt, She passed hem of Ypres and of Gaunt, In al the parissh wif ne was ther noon, That to the offring bifore heir sholde goon."(Chaucer, pp. 310) This passage described her as being a good cloth making-woman who gives an abundance of gifts to the church. She does not represent women as the typical weak gender but she is a medieval woman at her most eloquent and her most basic (Jones, pp. 1). The Wife of Bath is essentially a conformist and though her behavior at times may seem out of hand, her needs are really quite normal. Put simply, she likes men and does not like sleeping alone. She tries hard to fulfill these needs but as far as Chaucer tells she had remained faithful to each of her five former husbands when they were alive. She flirts and is familiar with men but she nowhere does she actually advocate sex outside marriage. Her prologue starts by boasting of her experience of men, "Experience, though noon auctoritee Were in this world, is right ynogh for me, To speke of wo that is in mariage." (Chaucer, ll. 1).
Chaucer begins his description of the wife by telling us she is somewhat deaf. By being deaf she can not hear what other say about her. He says this deafness is a pity and this sympathy from Chaucer may be because if she could hear what others might say about her then she might change her ways. He goes on and tells that she is an excellent seamstress and weaver. This implies that she may have had nice, expensive looking clothes and the looks of a true woman of the times (Dalcourt, pp. 1).
Chaucer continues on to say that she makes it a point to be the first to give an offering in church and that she often gives generously. By being first, the wife makes sure that everybody sees her giving that large amounts of money. If she was last to give, then people may have already left or had not been paying attention to her donation. Because she donates a lot each time it implies that she may feel guilty for something or that she has sinned terribly and is now trying to buy her forgiveness. By giving all this money to the church, God may overlook her wrong doings.
In the next line Chaucer hints at the sinful side...
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