Week One: The Wife of Bath's Prologue and The Wife of Bath's Tale

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In The Wife of Bath's Prologue and The Wife of Bath's Tale, there is the underlying message that women want power over their men. During Chaucer’s time, the 1300’s, women were generally held in low esteem. This mindset even occurred in the church. The church, at this time in history, was very corrupt. They misinterpreted a multitude of scriptures to conform to their worldview, rather than having the scriptures form their worldview, like it is intended to do. This erroneous worldview is the fault of the readers, not the text. This was the truth that the Wife of Bath was after why she felt the pilgrimage was necessary; she longed for the truth.
                This oppressive worldview that was held by the majority molded the Wife of Bath into the sexually manipulative women that we read about. Having told she has little power being a woman, she ironically uses her feminine wiles to yield power over her men. She prides herself on this self-taught skill. She has had much experience after all! She then concludes that that is what women really want - authority over their men.

               
 I found this story, both The Wife of Bath's Prologue and The Wife of Bath's Tale, very interesting. While I saw and sympathized with the feeling against the totally submissive nature wrongly expected of women at the time, I do not agree with the wife’s statement that women need power over their men to have a truly happy relationship and that that is a natural thing. A relationship between a husband and wife is a beautiful and unique thing. You choose each other, devoting the rest of your life together, through the hard and the joyous times.  You are born into your family, you choose your spouse. But, the only way this wonderful relationship works is through compromise, understanding and support. The two must support each other in the best way they can. This is the beauty of a relationship, a true relationship. 

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