#JustWifeyThings

The Wife of Bath tries to establish herself as an experienced wife, but the only thing she’s actually experienced with is sexual manipulation… I love it, especially with the concluding details of her fifth marriage. Of course, women want what they can’t have, and the Wife of Bath knows this, but she still falls in love with her fifth husband, Jankyn, because she can not control him the way she wants to. Regardless of the domestic violence and psychological abuse involved, the Wife of Bath and Jankyn are great for each other because they balance each other out. I’m so glad she actually fell in love with him. I mean, her philosophies on love in her first four marriages are awfully sad, most likely because she had never experienced true love, and how could she?

They had me yeven hir gold and hir tresoor;

Me neded nat do lenger diligence

To winne hir love, or doon hem reverence.

They loved me so wel, by God above,

That I ne tolde no deyntee of hir love! (Lines 204-208)

 To top it all off, Jankyn is twenty years younger than her… I’m not going to lie; I find that detail erotic and captivating not just because it’d be my dream as a single, old lady to score some youthful babe but it adds to my astonishment over this woman’s mere existence. It was common for an older man to marry a younger woman, but was it common for an older woman to marry a younger man? I didn't think so...

She must represent a whole bunch of woman that actually existed in Chaucer's time with similar thoughts, feelings, and behaviors when it comes to schemas about Church, marriage, sex, feminine roles, and money. I want to hear the voices of these women! I don’t care for the argument that women like her are the first “feminist” characters. Uh, I don’t think she’s too concerned with feminism: the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men (thanks for the definition, Google). She doesn’t mention a need for women’s rights and she definitely isn’t trying to achieve equality with men – if anything, she’s trying to achieve jurisdiction over men. I think the Wife of Bath is just a badass nympho that doesn’t conform to the typical perspectives women in her time were taught to take and, in turn, needed to fine the right guy for her, and she did. In my opinion, she can’t even translate to a feminist character.

My mental image of the Wife of Bath during her first four marriages:

Fionna Goode from American Horror Story, especially in the episode with the axeman ;)

And during her fifth:

Lucy from I Love Lucy, mostly because she and Ricky are both hot-tempered and crazy, but they love each other <3

Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Canterbury Tales." Edited by V.A. Kolve and Glending Olson. Second Norton Critical Edition.