Wyf of Bath?

I know most people are talking most the Wyf of Bath's actual tale, which I really liked, but I wanted to discuss temperament because I think her character is so uniquely fascinating. From the text, we can gather that she is a petulant, vain, wanton, outspoken, and self-serving woman -- none of which is admirable in any way to the other pilgrims, especially the clergy. My question is this: In class, we talked about how the Wyf of Bath wanted approval and all these qualities show her need for acceptance. However, if she so desperately craves acceptance, why does she act the way she does? Wouldn't it make more sense for her to act less like a modernized woman, and instead try to blend in with everyone else? I suppose she can't do this because of her need for control, so maybe I answered my own question in a roundabout way... Anyways, if anyone else has any answers, please share.

-Lauern NuDelman

I agree with the notion that the Wyf of Bath represents herself as an old hag in her tale because of her insecurities and her wishes to stay young and beautiful. I found that on Monday when we talked about governance and how it applies to the Wyf of Bath quite interesting. I really believe that she told this tale as a wish fulfillment of what she always wanted in life. The fulfillment being that she wanted to stay young, beautiful and want to be in a good marriage. We can see this through what the Knight finds out in his quest, that women want power and sovereignty in a marriage. We can also see evidence of this through the Wyf's prologue. She constantly wanted control by playing hard to get or chasing after men who played hard to get; or ripping out pages in one of her husband's books so that he would stop being annoying and pay attention to her. Throughout both the Wyf's prologue and tale I see a reoccurring aspect that she wants to be noticed, loved, and have control and will do anything she can to get it; whether that be sleeping with multiple men, ripping out pages in a book, or faking how badly she was abused by one of the men she "loved".
-Elise Van Dam

I agree with the idea that the Wife of Bath representing herself as a hag for more self-centered reasons. After reading the Wife of Bath's tale, I believe that she is an immensely insecure woman, and compensates by constantly attempting to justify herself in her prologue and tale. First of all, she spends much of her time in her prologue going on and on about how sexuality and marriage is justified in Bible, making it acceptable for her to be loose and have husband after husband. In her tale, she devotes two pages to explaining why a person can be considered noble without being born into nobility. This displays her insecurity about not being a true part of the aristocracy. Might she also be compensating for this by marrying so many times? It could also be said that she is self conscious about her age, and so looks for aspects of youth in her "male prey." This ties into her representing herself in her tale as an old hag. She would much rather be a youthful wife, which shows how she is a shallow woman who esteems rank and looks rather than character.

Superficiality and Cynicism in the Wife of Bath's Tale

          I feel as if most people have an idealized response to the character of the knight in the Wife of Bath's tale because he displayed respect for the old hag and transformed into a more honorable human being. I think that we should consider another interpretation however, because if Chaucer had intended the tale to be perceived in this way, it would make the Wife of Bath appear to be an ideal character who believes in the potentiality of men, and we know from her prologue that this is not the case. After being married several times, and seeing how easy it is to manipulate men, not to mention her latest husband having been abusive despite her love for him, I find it hard to believe that she would not be slightly cynical about men. For this reason, I feel as if the knight allowed the old hag to choose whether she would be beautiful or ugly because he was indifferent and had figured out how she wanted him to respond. If this is the case, then the knight’s supposed transformation is superficial, which perhaps is why the old hag gave him such a superficial reward.
         We are all familiar with the tale of an ugly old woman turning into a beautiful maiden from fairy tales like "Beauty and the Beast," but while the theme behind this trasnformation is that true beauty lies underneath physical appearance, the Wife of Bath attempts to convey that women should be obeyed by their husbands no matter what they look like. I think that the Wife of Bath intended the old hag to represent herself as she would like to be perceived by others, as someone who is no longer in the prime years of youth, but who remains passionate and cunning, but also cynical of the nature of man.

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.

The Wife of Bath and the Ending of her Tale

I found the voice of the Wife of Bath in the ending of her tale with the knight and the magical old woman. The old woman tells the knight in their wedding bed that she would be old and ugly but the best wife that he could ever ask for. Or the knight could chose her to be young and beautiful, but not necessarily a good wife and he would have to accept the consequences. This is symbolic of the Wife of Bath. In her youth when she was more beautiful, she played around more and was extremely manipulative. She is still so in a way while she is telling the story, but it has been toned down over the years. Now she is older and probably less attractive, and she was a fantastic wife to her last husband. In the tale, the magical old woman was able to be both good, young, and beautiful for the knight because he gave her the choice of which lifestyle she wanted to follow. And the Wife of Bath's point is that all three qualities together can only exist in fairy tales. In reality you would get a life that looked more or less (probably less) like her own.

As erotic and passionate as the Wife of Bath is, I feel bad for her. No one can go through that many relationships without having some bad side effect: which we see a little bit in the nightmare which she can't remember and her "best friend" having the same name as her- possible meanings of that were talked about in class. The negative moral of her tale makes her a more pitiable character, and as the tale ends her long continuous words, Chaucer leaves her that way for now.

The Wife of Bath's tale

I really agree and like what Lauren commented about religion and CT. Changing the topic however, after reading the wife of bath's tale I am now liking the CT a lot more! It was a really interesting passage and i think the wife of bath is such an amusing character. However, who is this old lady in the story? is it her? This tale also seemed pretty feminist because the answer to what all women want is control of their husbands or boyfriends. I wouldn't really agree with that, but apparently that was the correct answer in sparing this knight! I also found her tale interesting in the fact that it brings in magical aspects. The old woman's deal with her husband is that she could either turn into a beautiful young woman with the risk of her cheating, or stay old and ugly and be super submissive and a great wife. The element of magic makes this story unique and somewhat questionable.

Andrea