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Sample Term Paper on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
Wife of Bath’s Tale: Breton Lais
The Wife of Bath’s tale, through its shifts in plot and conflicting moral messages, creates a complex picture of what women truly desire in marriage. Because of its short, parable-like form, the Breton Lay is particularly well-suited to a tale that appears to have one clear message—namely, that “wommen desiren to have sovereynetee / as wel over hir housbond as hir love / And for to been in maistrie hym above” (1038-1040)—but actually delivers a slightly different one: that a woman’s real desire in marriage is for her husband to give her a voice, whether or not she chooses to exercise it. The Wife of Bath’s Tale works well as a moral discourse not only because it is in Breton Lay form, but because it has certain stylistic elements such as the use of “and” at the beginning of sentences, which cue the reader in to shifts in the dramatic tone of the work that contribute to its overall meaning.
The question of what women desire most in marriage appears to be answered in the beginning of the Wife of Bath’s tale, when the lusty bachelor announces that the answer to the Queen’s riddle is that women desire mastery over their husbands more than anything else. Every woman in the court agrees and the Queen allows him to go free. Yet when the bachelor finally gives his wife a choice—whether to remain ugly and unpopular or become fair and popular—she simply uses it to do what her husband would want best. So, in the end, it seems that it is not mastery, but the respect of being given a choice, that women desire.
The Wife of Bath herself admits that “A man shal wynne us best with flaterye, / And with attendance and with bisynesse / Been we ylymed, bothe moore and lesse” (932-934). This statement accords with the old woman’s behavior, for she appears to be so pleased with the fact that her husband has given her a choice that she positively gushes, telling him that he will soon have everything he wants.
The Wife of Bath seems also to believe that the reason behind a woman’s desire to have her voice heard is tied to vanity. She says of her sex “…be we never so vicious withinne, / We wol been holden wise and clene of synn” (943-44). That women care less about the state of their soul than about a compliment from their husband does not lend much credence to the idea that they should be given mastery over their spouses. In the first place, it shows that they depend on their husbands for something they should already have—self-respect—and in the second place, it renders them morally unfit to be directing their husband’s lives. If what the Wife of Bath says of women is true, they would not be capable of mastering their husbands lives even if they were given permission to do so.
As they are depicted in this tale, women are incapable and even undeserving of the type of liberties they desire. Gossipy, self-involved, and deceptive, they are such immoral beings that they don’t seem like they would be a good match for anyone except the most superficial and spineless of men.
Strangely enough, the hero of the tale is just that. He is given no name, only called the “lusty bacheler.” This is a perfectly fitting title, because from the moment he is introduced he exhibits nothing but lust and shallowness. His first action is to rape a young virgin. This comes right after he has been hunting waterfowl, a more accepted but equally violent activity. When he happens upon the old woman who will eventually become his wife, he is only drawn to her because “he saugh upon a duance go / Of ladyes foure and twenty, and yet mo” (991-992). This is especially telling of his libidinousness for he is on his way home to be executed when he sees them. One would think he would have his mind on other things. And when he is freed from the court, having answered the riddle correctly, instead of thanking the old woman who saved his life, he calls her his “damnacioun.” This is quite an ignorant statement, seeing as how she is the only reason he is still alive.
In a tale where women and men are equally depraved, it is only fitting that they should end up together, and that is exactly what happens. The bachelor and the old woman end up getting exactly what they want, for his greatest desire is for a pretty wife, and hers is simply to become a wife. The bachelor is not, after all, a great catch; he has just raped a maiden. Yet the old woman goes to the trouble of creating an illusion in order to draw him to her and traveling to the court with him all just to get married. And when he offers her his wealth in exchange for the right to back out of the agreement, she makes it clear that the only thing she truly wants is to become his wife.
This brings up the question of just how valuable men are in the tale. In addition to the curious amount of persistence the old woman has in wanting to marry this despicable man, it is also unusual that he was allowed to live after violating King Arthur’s statute in the first place. Apparently he is given this opportunity because “the queene and other ladyes mo / So longe preyeden the kyng of grace” (894-895). Yet this action is not explained, and no reason is given as to why all these women would pray for mercy upon the head of a rapist. The Wife of Bath clearly places a great value on men.
The Wife of Bath’s tale is complex, both in its message and in the depravity of its characters, but it seems to do a better job of showing the warped attitude of the Wife of Bath than anything. When compared with the Franklin’s tale, it actually tells little about women and marriage. And while they are both Lays, the Franklin’s tale has more of the adventurous feel of the genre than the Wife of Bath’s tale.
The Franklin’s tale suggests a similar sentiment to that of the Wife of Bath’s tale, but has a greater breadth of meaning: “Love wol nat been constreyned by maistrye” (764). That is, Aurelius’ mastery of the rocks by the shore does not win him the woman he loves, nor can any magical thing make Dorigen’s love for her husband go awry. By being noble and giving the maiden the freedom to decide her fate for herself, the men in both of these tales are freed from their troubles and allowed to live. However, where in the Wife of Bath’s Tale the bachelor is not just allowed to live, but rewarded for giving the woman a choice, Aurelius’s only reward is that he won’t have to sell his heritage. The Franklin’s tale, therefore, shows that women desire some mastery over their husbands, but that the results might be disastrous. For, even though Dorigen ends up happy, Aurelius is her casualty; she has made him a promise that she was not prepared to keep.
In communicating its moral (and immoral) messages, The Wife of Bath’s employs certain stylistic techniques that heighten the drama at certain points. One such technique is the use of “and” at the beginning of a sentence. When the old woman reveals to her husband that she is going to change into a beauty—the climactic element of her speech—she says “And but I be to-morn as fair seene” (1245). The use of “and” also occurs ten lines later, when the Wife of Bath tells the reader that the bachelor’s wife ended up obeying him in all matter instead of the other way around, a key detail.
Works Cited
Chaucer , Geoffrey. The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. Larry D.
Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.
Works Referenced
Ovid’s Tale of Midas . 1 May 2003. Available online: http://icg.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/wbt/ovid-mid.html
Geoffrey Chaucer Page . 30 April 2003. Available online: http://icg.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/wbt/
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