The Wife of Bath is a complex character-she isn’t what she seems to be, and maybe not even what she herself thinks she is. On the surface, it seems as though she is a feminist, defending the rights and power of women over men in both her prologue and tale. But when looked at from the point of view of a man of the time, her entire image seems to shift. Though the Wife of Bath seems to see herself as a feminist, it is quite unlikely that any man of the time period saw her in the same light; rather she seems to illustrate all of the wrongs that men found in women. She is a perfect example of a “failed feminist,” a weak parody of what men see feminists as.
We learn the most about the Wife of Bath from her prologue, as this is when we learn not about the story of someone else, but her own history and beliefs. What better way to learn about someone than to have them talk about themselves? It appears that in her telling of her own tale, she tries to make herself sound like a feminist and a strong, powerful, independent woman-this is apparent from the moment she begins to tell about all of her husbands. She considers her many marriages a sort of affirmation of her sexuality. She wants others to see her as the kind of woman who won’t let the standards that the society of the time have set get in the way of getting what she wants, especially if what she wants is the opposite sex.
On the other side of the window, however, the men see the sagas of her husbands as nothing more than bragging about her promiscuity, which, though perfectly acceptable for men, is frowned upon even now as soon as it comes to women. They see the stories of her many husbands as proof that women are exactly the vile, scandalous creatures they’ve been trying to convince the world they are since the days of Adam and Eve. They see her marriages as examples of women’s lack of morals, a trait that makes them supposedly inferior to men. Also, the Wife of Bath’s excuse for this behavior seems to be something along the lines of, “I can marry as much as I want-after all, I need to reproduce!” This mindset naturally leads to the thought that women are unnecessary for anything but the repopulation of the earth, and that the only reason they’re around is to have and raise children, a completely antifeminist belief.
The Wife of Bath brags about how she stood up to her husband’s drinking, probably seeing herself as being the woman who is brave enough and strong enough to stand up to her man. The fact that she takes pride in this implies several things, the first being that her pride in this as something out of the ordinary leads one to believe that most women would not stand up to their husbands because they are weaker or too timid or whatever the cause may be. These actions also serve to illustrate her as being the “typical woman” or stereotypical wife-shrewish, nagging and overbearing, all of the things men seem to find fault in with their wives.
The Wife of Bath also seems to be rather proud of her ability to manipulate and lead on men, which is strange. It appears that she believes this is something to be proud of, though where she got that idea is unclear. Regardless, her skill at manipulation is not something that men admire, and generally look down upon as another negative trait often attributed unfairly to the stereotype of women.
The Wife of Bath’s fifth husband abuses her, something that would not generally be tolerated by a “good” feminist. Even worse is the fact that every time he does beat her, she comes right back to him without shame of any sort. However, the excuse she gives is one that seems to fit what we’ve learned of her thus far: she stays with her abusive husband because the sex is spectacular. Evidently she finds this to be a good enough reason to be beaten, and believes that everyone else will think it’s a good enough reason as well.
What the rest of the world, men and women alike, see this as is a pathetic illustration of the stereotype of women always crawling back to their husbands helplessly, regardless of how many wrongs they’ve committed. She is well aware of how bad her husband is, and yet she comes back to him for more time after time.
Though she never gives a reason beyond her transparent excuse of her husband’s excellence in bed, one may be led to believe that the reason she comes back to him after all he’s done wrong is because the Wife of Bath is one of those unfortunate people who can’t live properly without someone else in their life. Regardless of how many times she reiterates that men are horrible, wicked creatures, one is constantly reminded of her numerous husbands. It seems that the Wife is never without a husband, and it shows the manly belief that a woman “can’t survive” without a husband-one of those beliefs that feminists so often try to disprove.
Even in the Wife of Bath’s tale that she recites to the rest of the company her failed attempts at feminism are apparent. She tries to show how women can manipulate and get control over men, but what it really shows is how women most desire control over their husbands-implying that they have no control over them to begin with, and that the man is the important figure in the relationship. She tries to show the triumph of women over men with the old woman’s victory-it was her choice to have beauty or honor when all was said and done-but it is easy to overlook how it was the knight that gave her that choice to make to being with. The tale also illustrates the much-mocked vanity and disloyalty of women in the fact that when given the choice between being old, ugly and honorable and being beautiful and unfaithful, the woman chose the latter of the options.
In conclusion, the Wife of Bath is probably what could be considered a “failed feminist.” She attempts consistently throughout her prologue and tale to play the role of the feminist, but when all is said and done she actually achieves the opposite of her initial goal-she has shown the men of the story that women are exactly what they believed they were from the beginning, in all the worst ways.
