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Canterbury Tales: Wife Of Bath (1)

    Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London in 1340 (Fuller 12). Geoffrey
Chaucer's fortunes were closely bound with these of John Of Gaunt, the
son-in-law to the Earl of Derby (Fuller 12). Around the year 1380,
Geoffrey Chaucer was charged with rape by a woman named Cecily
Chaumpaigne (Williams 28). It is most likely that a distinguishable
character, such as Chaucer would not have been guilty of this charge.
However, the word "rape" probably referred to abducting rather than
assaulting a woman as it means today (Halliday 68). Cecily Chaumpaigne
in 1380 released Chaucer of all charges of "raptu meo," a phrase
that could be interpreted as "seizing me" (Williams 28). It is
possible that this allegation of rape brought on to Chaucer by
Cecily Chaumpaigne, is the very reason behind the Tale of the Wife of
Bath.

    The wife of Bath was a plump, florid, jolly, bold, lusty, and
voluptuous woman. She was the most valuable of women. The wife of bath
cannot resist telling her companions about all of her sexual
experiences. She has had five husbands. Her husbands fell into two
categories. The first category of husbands was: rich, but also old and
unable to fulfill her demands, sexually that is. The other husbands
were sexually vigorous, but harder to control. The first three were
rich, old, and jealous. She tamed them by accusing them of promiscuous
behavior, that she herself practiced. Her fourth husband had a
mistress, so she "gave him a real cause for jealousy" (Halliday 119).
At the funeral of her first husband she fell in love with the legs of
an Oxford clerk. Although he was half her age, he became her fifth
husband. This marriage was unhappy because he beat her. To anger her
fifth husband, the wife of Bath tore three pages from his book. After
this he beat her again. She pretended to be dead and he felt so guilty
that he threw his whole book in the fire. This gave her the upper hand
for the rest of his life. She...