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The Wife Of Bath In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

1184 Words5 Pages

The Canterbury Tales Wednesday 11th November 2015 Essay Question 5 Word Count: 1182 Alison Wong Chaucer’s Modern Woman During The Middle Ages In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer introduces the life of people in different social classes during the late Middle Ages. Chaucer is accepted by both lower and higher class of his time and thus is able to make observations of both classes to enhance his characterisation within his tale, allowing his characters to be enjoyable and engaging, despite their unique views and differences. For each character he writes, is their own individual tale that reflects a quality of the speaker. In this essay, I will argue that the general prologue, the Wife Of Bath’s prologue and her tale reveal her desire for domination and control, that she values experiences and is confident towards her unique views which will be reflected in her tale. The general prologue introduces the Wife Of Bath through her physical appearance and attributes that subtlety hint on her personality and characteristics. The narrator describes her clothing in detail: “Her kerchiefs were of finely woven ground”, “her hose were of the finest scarlet red”, “her shoes soft and new”.(15) Chaucer’s detailed description of her clothing reveals her extravagant and bold personality, creating speculation on the amount of attention she desires to draw to herself with her fine clothing and her vibrant display of red. The details about her clothing describes a figure who demands

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