The Wife of Bath

Wife of Bath
Geoffrey Chaucer’s, Wife of Bath is about a modern day feminist living in the male dominated 14th century. Alisoun has advanced in both her business and personal life making her a contemporary to the woman of the 21st century. Although many think Alisoun, a crass character who says whatever she pleases, is constantly misquoting the bible, and constantly annoying those around her. She is an independent businesswoman who is able to provide an ideal life for herself, full of leisure and travel. Alisoun is a modern woman living in a time, when there was no model for women having a choice in their own futures.
Alisoun’s personal life is one that many have studied, for mainly being that 14th century women, did not marry as often and to certainly not men lesser in age. From today’s standards the “cougar” label, as we would call Alisoun, is very commonplace. But for Chaucer’s time period the fact that Alisoun lived this lifestyle was not a social norm that people could accept, it could rather upset people. Alisoun finds a way around the fact that she has married five men by justifying herself with scripture quotes from the bible.   Alisoun’s first three husbands were much older than she was and knew more about life than she could ever know. She managed to take this knowledge from her previous husbands and use it to her advantage with her later two husbands. Alisoun’s fourth husband was her peer and probably was attracted to her for her money. Her fifth, and the husband that she is married to at the time of the journey was Jankyn, who was twenty years her junior and only in the marriage for the wealth that Alisoun had accrued for herself. This marriage is a role reversal in a time where women were usually twenty years younger than the men that they married. Alisoun has been one of these women herself and therefore sees no problem with having a marriage to a younger man since marrying a younger woman is encouraged.
With Alisoun’s marriages she also has no...