In Geoffrey Chaucer” Wife of Bath prologue”, The Wife of Bath is known as the know it all of marriages because since she was twelve, she has had five husbands. Due to being married so many times at such a young age, she has been criticized for it and says that God made people with sexual organs to reproduce and expel waste from our bodies. In her relationship, her sexual power allows her to take control of her husbands and wear the pants of the relationship. She would make them miserable by telling them lies whenever one of her husband’s got drunk and feel guilty afterwards so they would give her what she wants to please her. The prologue reveals how during The Middle Ages, women were perceived as materialistic and incapable of satisfying her husbands.
Throughout the book, The Wife of Bath emphasizes her need to have authority in society since she is seen as a minority incapable of taking the role of a man. When she tries to defend herself for being criticized for being married too much , she becomes an example for all the negative stereotypes about women as she portrays all the poor qualities of a woman in a society, where men are the dominant one over women. She tries to stand up and be an example for females with the intention to support feminism, but does the opposite and gives everyone the reason to believe she is not a good example for women.
In the book, it talks about how she uses her husbands basically to provide for her needs in exchange for pleasure and as long as she keeps them satisfy, she will always gets what she wants. At the same time, she tormented them and even caused her fourth husband to die from constant pain she gave them. It reveals the idea of how women are heavily controlled by their emotions and it forces them to do whatever they need to do to please themselves. Men are like puppets where women can easily manipulate us and control us for their benefit with no feelings attached. Once they get what they want from us and we no longer keep them content, they will leave us and find another guy to do the exact same thing again.
Overall, women care about nothing else but themselves and how they feel. They are really focused on their greed for money and ways to make them feel better about themselves by what the wear. They use the money they get to accessorize and make them look good so that they look presentable. I would strongly recommend the novel “The Canterbury Tales” to a person who would like to learn more about how women’s role during the The Middle Age has changed over time and the influence they have on men. It will provide them with new insight of how differently the social norms were back then and how it plays into effect today.