From the beginning of her Prologue, it seems apparent that the
Wife of Bath is not going to be portrayed in the stereotypical way in which
we would expect from a work of literature from Chaucer’s time. She
begins by mentioning that she believes “That marriage is a misery and a
woe”. She has had several marriages, again breaking typical fourteenth
century tradition, and many of these are marriages that she has not
particularly enjoyed.
Religion played a large part in people’s lifestyles at this time too,
and she goes on to say that from the Bible, Jesus has a lack of experience
at weddings, and questions religious authority. These aspects of her
character already give readers the idea that she is a woman that could be
described as controversial. She is an extremely sexually driven woman,
and doesn’t try to hide the fact that this has been the core element of
each of her marriages. She points out the absurdity in that, although
matters of a sexual nature seem to be quietly hushed aside and deemed
unsuitable for discussion, there would be no human race without sex,
which reaffirms our first expectations of her as an open-minded
character.
As such, she respects the opinions of others. She states that she’ll
“have no quarrel with virginity”, indicating that while it certainly isn’t her
idea of a good time, she respects peoples’ choices. However, readers’
opinions of her personality may yet be tainted when she tells more of her
previous marriages. “Three of them were good and two were bad”, the
good ones being rich, making it apparent that she is marrying for money,
and old, meaning that it won’t be hard for her to make them feel guilty
and let her do as she pleases. She mentions that they were not at all
sexually potent and how she “made them work at night”, which is quite a
coarse remark for a book from this time. The Wife tells us of her
philosophy, “We cannot love a husband who takes charge Of where we
go. We like to be at large.”
More of her marriages are discussed in some detail, including her
fourth husband who she found dead on returning from a trip to
Jerusalem. She is a practical women who doesn’t believe in expensive
funerals, so she laid him to rest and continued as normal. Her fifth
husband was physically abusive and, according to her, the worst of the
lot. Desperate to be alone in bed for as short a time possible, she begins
to eye up a new husband/sex-buddy at her fifth husband’s funeral, in
between hiding her face and pretending to be upset.
This new husband is affectionately known as “handsome Johnny”,
and in this relationship the roles are reversed. The Wife of Bath is now in
the lead with age, by a good twenty years, yet we see another aspect of
her personality shine through in her justification of this. She makes a
reference to Astrology and implies that age is not an issue, that there will
be no restraints on this relationship. As such, they are wedded before
even one month since the death of her previous husband has passed
(something that would even today be seen as extremely unproper).
However, Johnny proves to be a burden on the Wife, as he is also
physically violent and has a poor view of women. She mentions that she is
deaf in one ear because she was hit by him after tearing a page out of a
book that belonged to him – a book that listed women who have behaved
badly in history, which he would read to the Wife each evening as a
warning that she should behave. Another example of her quick thinking
is shown at this point, as she feigns her own death to avoid any further
hassle. This part of the Wife’s life is brought to a close as she tells her
audience that Johnny died, although no further details are given.
The prologue then ends, as does the majority of the Wife’s
character development. In between the prologue and the actual tale itself,
the Friar points out how long she has been talking. The Host then tells
the Friar to “Shut up, and let the woman tell her tale”, indicating that she
has become part of the “gentleman’s club”. At a time with sexist
attitudes, the Wife of Bath would probably have done as she was told, yet
her strong (and in places, almost masculine) character may have ensured
that she is permitted to continue speaking.
These aspects of her personality stay strong throughout her tale,
which is mostly irrelevant in comparison to the prologue as much of her
character has already been developed. She ends the story by mentioning
the lesson that all men must learn – that is, to accept women’s
dominance, “stay fresh in bed”, or to accept the consequences!