Wife of Bath
Brittany Williams
English 205
28, June 2013
Wife of Bath In the “General Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales the wife of bath is one of the two woman in the story. In the prologue the wife of bath is described as an old woman who was impeccably dressed. The “host” points out details about her shoes, how soft and fresh the leather was on them. He also made a point to talk about in detail about how well her clothing was put together as well as her color choice. “Hir covercheifs ful fine were of ground I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound That on Sonday weren upon hir heed hir hosen weren of fin scarlet reed” (445-459) From reading the prologue you get the understanding that the wife has ben around in more ways than one, the first being that this was not her first pilgrimage, she has been to several different lands and even been to some more than once. “And thries haddle she at Jerusalem”. (465) The wife has been married five times and she uses her marriages as an experience, likes it makes her wiser. The second one being that that she was married five times and had been around as a young adult he made it seem as though that she was worldly in the sense of her travels and in sex and love. During the prologue there was emphasis on the fact that she had scarlet, during that time scarlet was an expensive color because it was made of red beetles that were only found in certain parts of the world. The wife being that she is from bath, which back then was a big cloth making town during that time showed two things. One that she was wealthy and the second being that she was a great seamstress. “She passed ypress and of Gaunt.” (450). The wife contradicts herself in a way, because in the story she told she talks about how pretty girls will “get around” and the ugly ones don’t but she herself has been married 5 times and she used her body to get what she wanted. I think that was why Chaucer made a point to tell so much about her past relationships. In the wife’s tale
English 205
28, June 2013
Wife of Bath In the “General Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales the wife of bath is one of the two woman in the story. In the prologue the wife of bath is described as an old woman who was impeccably dressed. The “host” points out details about her shoes, how soft and fresh the leather was on them. He also made a point to talk about in detail about how well her clothing was put together as well as her color choice. “Hir covercheifs ful fine were of ground I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound That on Sonday weren upon hir heed hir hosen weren of fin scarlet reed” (445-459) From reading the prologue you get the understanding that the wife has ben around in more ways than one, the first being that this was not her first pilgrimage, she has been to several different lands and even been to some more than once. “And thries haddle she at Jerusalem”. (465) The wife has been married five times and she uses her marriages as an experience, likes it makes her wiser. The second one being that that she was married five times and had been around as a young adult he made it seem as though that she was worldly in the sense of her travels and in sex and love. During the prologue there was emphasis on the fact that she had scarlet, during that time scarlet was an expensive color because it was made of red beetles that were only found in certain parts of the world. The wife being that she is from bath, which back then was a big cloth making town during that time showed two things. One that she was wealthy and the second being that she was a great seamstress. “She passed ypress and of Gaunt.” (450). The wife contradicts herself in a way, because in the story she told she talks about how pretty girls will “get around” and the ugly ones don’t but she herself has been married 5 times and she used her body to get what she wanted. I think that was why Chaucer made a point to tell so much about her past relationships. In the wife’s tale