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Lindsay Fukui
Prof. Martinelli
RCM Seminar
14 May 2009
Lust, Flattery and Theft
Dante gave in depth details in his description of Hell in the Inferno. Each placement of
each sinner is placed into one of the nine circles of Hell because of a sin they committed against
God. As the levels of Hell increase in number, the sins committed grow in severity. The Wife of
Bath had five husbands in her entire life. She married her last husband at the age of forty when
her husband was twenty years old. She led a free life of prosperity and happiness. According to
Dante’s Inferno, the Wife of Bath’s sins of lust, flattery, and theft place her in different rings of
Hell according to Dante’s interpretation.
According to Dante, the Wife of Bath would be placed in the Second Circle of Hell
because she was lustful toward men. In Dante’s Inferno, Dante entered the Second Circle of Hell
with Virgil, Dante’s guide through Hell. While passing through, Virgil points out the sinners to
Dante and “named to [Dante] more than a thousand shades departed from our life because of
love.” (Inferno p. 43, L.67-69). While in the Second Circle, Dante encountered a woman,
Francesca, in the Second Circle of Hell. Francesca told Dante that she was in Hell because she
lusted after her husband’s younger brother. She not only lusted after another man, she spent
many days in his company. One day, they read Lancelot together and love overtook their
actions, “when [they] had read how the desired smile was kissed by one who was so true a lover,
this one, who never shall be parted from [her], while all his body trembled, kissed [her] mouth”
(Inferno p. 47, L. 133-136). Francesca deserved to be in the Second Circle of Hell because of
her lust. This fits the Wife of Bath’s character because she lusted after many men, shown by her
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five marriages. While married to her fourth husband, she lusted after a man named Jankin. The
Wife of Bath and Jankin spent time together while she was still married. She spoke of how they
“walked in the field, until truly this clerk and [her] enjoyed such dalliance that in [her] foresight
[she] spoke to him and told him that if [she] were a widow he should marry [her] (Wife p. 321,
L. 564-568). After the Wife of Bath’s husband passed away, she “‘wept, all the same, and acted
sorrowful, as wives must, for it is customary, and covered [her] face with [her] handkerchief; but
since [she] was provided with a mate, [she] wept little, that [she] guarantee[d]’” (Wife p. 321323, L. 587-592). If her stories are not evident enough, she stated that she was lustful, “‘so help
me God, I was a lust one, and fair and rich and young and well off’” (Wife p. 323, L. 605-606).
The Wife of Bath deserves to be placed in the Second Circle of Hell because of the way she
lusted after Jankin.
According to Dante, the Wife of Bath may also be placed in the Eighth Circle, Second
Pouch of Hell because she flattered Jankin, her clerk. In Dante’s Inferno, Dante and Virgil
passed through the Eighth Circle, Second Pouch and encountered a man named Thaïs. Thaïs
spoke to Dante and Virgil and said he was in Hell “‘because of flatteries—of which my tongue
had such sufficiency’” (Inferno p. 167, L. 125-126). Virgil explained the rest of Thaïs’ story that
he was “‘the harlot who returned her lover’s question, ‘Are you very grateful to me?’ by saying,
‘Yes, enormously’” (Inferno p. 167, L. 133-135). Thaïs’ characteristic of flattery also fits the
Wife of Bath’s characteristic. While the Wife of Bath was married to her fourth husband, she
flattered another man named Jankin. She spoke to him while they were alone:
I made him believe he had enchanted me; my mother taught me that trick. And also I said
I had dreamed of him all night: he wanted to slay me as I lay on my back, and all my bed
was full of blood; but yet I expected that he would bring me luck; for blood signifies
gold, as I was taught. And all this was false, I had dreamed none of it; I was just
following my mother’s lore, as I always did, in this as well as in other matters. (Wife p.
321 L. 575-584)
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The Wife of Bath tried to flatter Jankin by lying to him that she thought of him all night and that
he would bring her luck. The Wife of Bath deserves to be placed in the Eighth Circle, Second
Pouch of Hell because of the way she flattered Jankin.
According to Dante, the Wife of Bath may also be placed in the Eight Circle, Seventh
Pouch of Hell because she was a thief with her first three husbands. In Dante’s Inferno, Dante
and Virgil passed through the Eighth Circle, Seventh Pouch of Hell. As they passed through,
they encountered a man named Vanni Fucci. Vanni Fucci told them why he was in Hell, “‘I am
set down so far because I robbed the sacristy of its fair ornaments, and someone else was falsely
blamed for that’” (Inferno p. 223, L. 137-139). Vanni Fucci was in Hell because he stole and
was labeled as a thief. Vanni Fucci’s sin of stealing from the church is similar to the Wife of
Bath’s sin of stealing from her husbands. The Wife of Bath told her life story of how her first
three husbands were old but wealthy. Once they had given her their wealth, she said, “‘I no
longer needed to be diligent to win their love…they loved me so well, by God above, that I
didn’t prize their love!’” (Wife p. 301, L. 205-208). She gave the impression that she was
stealing from her husbands because she was in the marriage for the wealth rather than love. She
was in the marriages strictly for her own profit; she spoke, “‘why should I take pains to please
them, unless it should be for my own profit and pleasure?’” (Wife p. 301, L. 213-214). The Wife
of Bath’s main trick to get what she wanted was in bed, “‘I would no longer stay in the bed if I
felt my husband’s arm over my side until he had paid his ransom to me; then I’d allow him to do
his bit of business’” (Wife p. 313, L. 409-412). The Wife of Bath took the wealth she needed
from her elderly husbands once her husbands died because she inherited their assets. She put on
an act for her husbands as if she loved them but in reality only wanted their possessions. She
stole from her husbands by pretending to love them and taking their wealth. The Wife of Bath
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deserves to be placed in the Eighth Circle, Seventh Pouch of Hell because she stole from her first
three husbands.
Dante may have not placed the Wife of Bath in Hell because he may have not seen that
she had sinned. The Wife of Bath was first married at the age of twelve. She did not realize the
commitment she was being forced into at such a young age. She interpreted God’s words in the
Bible that “‘when [her] husband has gone from the world, some Christian man shall wed [her]
soon. For the Apostle says that then [she] is free to marry in God’s name where [she] please’”
(Wife p. 293, L. 47-50). The Wife of Bath argued her case of her five marriages well, “‘Never
yet in my life have I heard this number [of marriages] defined. People may guess and interpret
the text up and down, but…God bade us expressly to increase and multiply’” (Wife p. 291, L.
24-28). The view that the Wife of Bath should have gone to Heaven may be argued, but she did
commit sins and therefore did deserve to be placed in Hell. The Wife of Bath admitted that the
Bible may be interpreted that her five marriages were unacceptable to God, “‘but I was definitely
told, not long ago, that since Christ went but once to a wedding, in Cana of Galilee, by that
example he taught me that I should not be married more than once’” (Wife p. 291, L. 9-13). The
Wife of Bath did sin and therefore deserves to be placed in Hell.
The Wife of Bath committed sin based on her lust and flattery of Jankin, and her theft
from her three husbands. According to these sins, Dante would have placed her into the Second
Circle, Eighth Circle, Second Pouch, or Eighth Circle, Seventh Pouch of Hell. Dante should
place the Wife of Bath into the Eighth Circle, Second Pouch of Hell because she mainly flattered
her fifth husband, but also flattered her first four husbands. She flattered her first four husbands
by telling the men she loved them because she wanted their wealth. She flattered her last
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husband while married to her fourth husband to win his affection. The Wife of Bath deserves to
be in the Eighth Circle, Second Pouch of Hell because of her flattery to her husbands.