The Wife of...Everyone, Apparently.

To be completely honest, this is kind of what I expected from the Wife of Bath. Reviewing my understanding of her based on how we described her in class, it can be summed up in: husbands, gold-digger, ostentatious, and a world traveler (by herself?). So 3/4 things I just mentioned aren't really "good" qualities to most people. Again, that being said, I didn't think highly of her and therefore wasn't surprised by what I read, but coming out of the reading I did have a new-found respect for her girl power.

The real first thing we hear from this woman is "I'm the authority on marriages, I've had enough of em." That's not a direct quote. Then, tailing off that, we hear that she's had 5 husbands! But don't accuse her of bigamy, because they're sequential, not at the same time. Oh, and she's cool with a sixth "whan that evere he shall!" (45, 103). 

Also, don't ask about her virginity because she's tired of hearing it. To paraphrase, so many people think virginity is more important than marriage, but she calls it "frailty" if people want to be abstinent their whole lives, and you won't make her jealous. In the same section of the book, we get a lot of innuendos talking about how men and women have different parts and "how can a man make his payment if he's never used his instrument"(p. 104-105). Basically, she likes marriage and virginity ain't all that. 

this is the wife of bath @ the haters

We also hear from her that she won't follow a rubric, she follows her own path which is cool to hear from a woman back then, regardless of why she's saying it. 

Alisoun (I think I read that's her name) gives us a quick rundown of her husbands, and from what I gather they're all old and wealthy and not worth her time. But the fifth husband is actually rad. He was so fresh and gay in bed (507, 113) (her words not mine). Someone who had my book before me annotated next to lines 503-514 when she's talking about husband #5, "it hurts so good" which I thought was hilarious and actually a great way to sum up that passage. 

I really appreciated her straightforwardness, and how she was a powerful woman. She had a lot of husbands, she enjoyed the perks of being married (even if it's to a man 20 years her junior) and she wasn't shy about doing things her own way. I can dig that. 

Another blog about Bath....

So it seems like we are all captivated by the the Wife of Bath. The description of her in the general prologue had me thinking that she was just a humble, church going woman who dressed well. But at line 460 when the narrator describes her as having had five husbands and “other companye in youthe” (461), I started having flashbacks of the squire and how he “so hote he lovede that by nightertale / he sleep namore than dooth a nightingale” (97-98).  Yet the Wife of Bath has gone on several pilgrimages to Jerusalem and other “a straunge streem” (14) that her lifestyle seems to contradict her religious values.

Jump to her prologue, the contradiction is on full display. She lies and deceits and uses her sexual prowess to manipulate men, namely her five husbands, into getting what she wants. And yet, she uses biblical references to defend her choices: “I woot wel Abraham was an holy man, / and Jacob…ech of hem hadde wyves mo than two” (55-57). I found the Wife of Bath to be incredibly complex and deliciously enticing and exciting! She is bold and shameless, yet we do get a glimpse of a softer, more sensitive side when she describes how she loved her fifth husband in spite of the “daungerous” nature of his love (514).

I picture Wife of Bath as an Elizabeth Taylor-esque seductress who shamelessly uses her sexuality as a means of power.

The Wife of Bath challenges all these longstanding, patriarchal /religious views of marriage and the “proper” role of a woman. Yet, I question Chaucer’s intent here. Is he praising her or satirizing her? The friar’s laugh at the end of her prologue seems to point to the ridiculous nature of her tale, and how this behavior was almost comical because of its outrageousness, which is the exact opposite of what a woman “should” be.

The Wife of Bath Will Not Take Your Nonsense

This being my first experience with Middle English, I have to admit that reading The Canterbury Tales has been a bit daunting. Much like the training wheels on my first bike, the footnotes and helpful hints in the margins have been the only things keeping me from falling flat on my face and crying to my mom.

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How I feel reading Middle English 

 Aside from my struggles with the language, I’m really looking forward to reading more of these characters’ tales! This concept of a storytelling contest brings me back to the days of trying to one-up each other’s campfire stories at Girl Scout camp. Since many of these characters seem a bit grittier (@Somonour) than most of the girls in my Brownie troop, I’m sure these tales will entertain to say the least. 

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Anyone else guilty of peddling these stories as their own?

After reading the Prologue of the Wife of Bath’s Tale, I’m definitely ready to hear more of what she has to say! I’m a big fan of her saucy attitude, and I love how she’s always got some biblical knowledge to back up her choices.

http://tattooimages.biz/images/gallery/Great_only_God_can_judge_me_quote_tattoo_on_arm.jpg.pagespeed.ce.jq5-vimJD3.jpg

Tell 'em, W.O.B.

 

Sure she’s been bouncing around from husband to husband since she was a preteen, but at least she owns it! I would love to see another character try to confront her about her choices, because I’m certain she would serve up a vicious verbal take-down, and honestly I’m here for it. 

Wife of Bath 2016: Make Canterbury Saucy Again

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. N.p.: W.W. Norton &, n.d. Print. 

First I would just like to say that the Wife of Bath was not what I expected her to be before reading this. For some reason I genuinely felt like she was going to be this wholesome church going woman. While she does go to church it isnt really for the right reasons. She goes to show "what a good person she is" even though she really isnt all that great. She makes cloth to give to the church, but if somebody one ups her she gets mad. 

I also expected her to be very modest when it came to the things she wore. While the clothes themselves may have been modest in the way that they kept her covered they were very flamboyant and colorful. She wore a lot in an attempt to show her wealth but she ended up looking pretty foolish. She wore a hat as big as a shield and bright red tights. 

I was also surprised to see that she has had five husbands, like honestly who even has time for that? 

SO MANY MEN....

So….The Wife of Bath definitely knows A LOT about marriage. Probably because she has had 5 HUSBANDS. Who let her get married at 12 years old? The thing is it seems like she likes that she has been married so much. It’s probably because she got whatever she wanted from most of her husbands. She did what she wanted and since they were older she could easily manipulate them into thinking they had to do whatever she wanted. She lied to them about the “bad things” they had done when they were drunk so they would try to make it up to her.

So she likes to control her husbands with her sexual power? She just seduces her men to get her way. She kind of reminds me of that mean girl that would flirt with the boys to get them to do her homework. She loves to marry her men for the money that they have. She uses her powers to get men to submit to her.

The only one that was different was her 5^th husband. She says she married him out of love but yet she lied to him about how he enchanted her? Was it really love or was it because he was a challenge?

 

 He was the first to not fall for her charms and didn’t take her manipulation. Instead he was the one who messed with her. He would do something wrong but win her back because he was coy and said the right things. She fell for the bad boy who was totally wrong for her and wanted to change him. He hurt her and yet she still loved him. She seems like she wasn't the average woman of the time. She did what she wanted and seemed like she didn't really care what others thought of her. Of course she mentioned that people judged her because of her lifestyle but that usually happens when you do things that others don't do.

She's a Man Eater

The Wife of Bath (Alisoun) strikes me as a very headstrong independent woman. She knows what she wants and doesn't let anyone or anything get in her way. 

During this time period, I feel that Alisoun acts in direct contrast to what is normally expected from a woman. For one, she feels that women need to be in control in their relationship with their husbands. She talks about how she basically had her husbands wrapped around her finger to get what she wanted out of them. She has a deeply rooted need for this control which I'm not entirely sure from where it stems from but it could have something to do with her mom. She mentions in line 576 that she convinced Jankin that he had enchanted her saying that her mom had taught her that trick. Maybe her mom had the same mindset because her mom taught it to her or perhaps something happened to cause her to be this way. Will we ever find out? I don't know but it is interesting to think about. I'm also a bit confused on why Alisoun had to fake that she was enchanted by Jankin but mentioned that he was the only one that she actually married for love. If she actually loved him, shouldn't she have been head over heels for him? 

She also has a very strong sexual appetite which I feel was frowned upon for women during this time. There has a been a lot of mention about Christianity in CT and Alisoun seems to use it to fit her own personal agenda of what she thinks is right (not to say that others haven't done the same thing). Alisoun doesn't seem share the same interpretation that others had during her time on the topic of sexuality. While it's clear that she believes in God, she questions where others got the idea that they were commanded to be virgins as it doesn't really mesh with the idea of marriage. She also uses the Biblical tales of Abraham and Jacob to defend her choice in having multiple husbands, basically saying if they could have a bunch of wives, why can't I have a bunch of husbands. Again, I think this goes back to Alisoun being a free spirited person. Not in the "make love, not war" sense but more in the sense of "take what I want when I want it."

Visual representation of Allison sizing up her next prey- I mean husband

I was not completely surprised at the fight she had with Jankin that happened towards the end of the prologue simply due to Alisoun's personality. I believe the book that Jankin would read came off to Alisoun as a personal attack because all it did was blame women for everything bad that happened to their husbands which directly contradicts everything she stood for in that women were to basically be worshipped and rule over their husbands.

#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.