How does Chaucer characterize the Wife of Bath?

In “The General Prologue,” Chaucer describes the Wife of Bath as a deaf, gap-toothed woman. She has a bold face and wears ten pounds of “coverchiefs” and a hat on her head (Chaucer 91). She wears a skirt with red stockings and tight-laced supple shoes. She is also a great weaver and has been on many pilgrimages.

Who is the main character of the Wife of Bath’s Tale?

The knight is the protagonist because all of the action in the story surrounds him (and his mistakes). He’s also the protagonist because of a convention of the romance genre, in which the main character is most often a man (sorry, ladies), usually a knight, who undergoes personal growth in the course of the story.

What is the overall appearance of the Wife of Bath?

With broad hips, a big butt, and a hat as big as a boat, she takes up a lot of space in the pilgrimage and in the poem as a whole. The Wife is dressed expensively in scarlet stockings and shoes of soft, new leather, and she has a penchant for fine, large headgear that Chaucer estimates weighs about ten pounds.

How is the Wife of Bath presented as a storyteller?

As a narrator, the Wife seems candid and honest, freely admitting things a more inhibited person would hide, like her intention of engaging in sex as frequently as possible. Yet the Wife also owns up to being deceptive with her former husbands and claims that deceit is one of the God-given gifts of women.

What is the main theme of the Wife of Bath tale?

The main theme in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is that all women desire sovereignty over their husbands. However, the story also suggests that women can be deceptive and take choice away from others, too.

Is the Wife of Bath Beautiful?

Additionally, Chaucer mentions that the Wife of Bath’s face is “bold …, handsome, and in a red hue”. The Wife of Bath’s beautiful complexion and enjoyment of socializing “indicates a good-natured gregariousness”. Having been married to five men, the Wife of Bath knows how to manipulate men into pleasing her.

What is the tone of the Wife of Bath’s Prologue?

Exuberant, Emphatic. The Wife of Bath really, really loves life and all its pleasures, and her enthusiasm comes out in what we’re calling the exuberant tone of her Prologue.

What is the purpose of the Wife of Bath’s Prologue?

The Wife of Bath uses the prologue to explain the basis of her theories about experience versus authority and to introduce the point that she illustrates in her tale: The thing women most desire is complete control (“sovereignty”) over their husbands.

Why did Chaucer write Wife of Bath?

One reason Chaucer wrote this story because he The wife of bath’s Tale because he wanted to show how women have feelings and opinions over things two and that they should be given equal rights as men and get to do and choose things that they want to.

Who is the antagonist in the Wife of Bath’s tale?

the enchantress
The knight of “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” begins as a rapist, but the story follows his character growth. Therefore, the enchantress, by threatening his death, plays the role of antagonist in that tale.

How does the Wife of Bath’s tale reflect her character?

In the “Wife of Bath’s Tale,” Alison is suggesting control that women should have. She is a strong-willed and dominant woman who herself gets what she wants when she wants it. She cannot accept defeat no matter what the cost. She feels that this is the way things should be and men should obey her.

Who is the knight in the Wife of Bath’s tale?

The unnamed knight in the Wife of Bath’s tale is a foolish, overly lusty bachelor who breaks the code of chivalry when he rapes a maiden in the woods. He is sent by the queen on a quest to learn his lesson.

What is the plot of the Wife of Bath’s tale?

The tale concerns a knight accused of rape, whose life shall be spared if in one year he discovers what women most desire. He eventually turns to an ugly old witch who promises him the answer that will save his life if he will do the first thing she asks of him.

What social class is the Wife of Bath?

In The Canterbury Tales, the two female characters are The Prioress and The Wife of Bath, who would have belonged to the First Estate and mercantile classes, respectively. As a Nun, The Prioress would be a virgin, while The Wife of Bath would have been both a wife and a widow, having been married several times.

What is the most important quote in the Wife of Bath’s tale?

I grante thee lyf if thou kanst tellen me What thyng is it that wommen moost desiren. Be war, and keepe thy nekke boon from iren.

How is the old woman like the Wife of Bath?

Not only that, but some of her biographical details resemble the Wife’s: she’s a older woman who jumps at the opportunity to marry a younger man, and she lectures him (some might say gives him a brow-beating) when he berates her for who she is. This is a like how the Wife of Bath treats her young husband Jankyn.

Is the Wife of Bath as a woman?

Alisoun, the Wife of Bath, is one of very few women pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer’s unfinished collection of poems, The Canterbury Tales, and the only secular female voice (the others being a nun and the Prioress), but she is arguably the most memorable and voluble speaker.

How does the Wife of Bath justify her multiple marriages?

How does she justify them? She says as God told man to increase and multiply (she is trying to justify for marrying 5 times), that husband should leave father and mother to take her and Solomon was a wise and holy man and she hopes to be at least partially as such.