The Wyf of Bathe's knight

One of the aspects of the Wyf of Bathe’s tale that interested me the most was the question of why everyone cared so much about the knight. He is a young knight who “sawgh a maide walking him biforn” and decided to rape her. Why did “the queene and othere ladies” want King Arthur to be lenient? I would think that even if all the ladies liked him before, they would not approve of rape! Also, the story implies that once he gives in to his wife and lets her have her own way he is redeemed and has become a good man. While I suppose that he could have learned respect for women in his journey, there is nothing in the story that shows that he has changed except that he wants to save his own skin. He goes out to discover “what thing it is that women most desiren” because he will live if he finds out, he listens to the old lady because he thinks it will save his life, he marries her because she demands it in repayment for her help, and he lets her choose in the end because he doesn’t like either of the choices and thinks she might have a better option. While I understand the feminist side to the story and the basic premises, I do not understand why the old woman wanted him to marry her in the first place.