Wife of Bath Gender Quotes

Men may devyne and glosen, up and doun,
But wel I woot, expres, without lye,
God bad us for to wexe and multiplye,
That gentil text kan I wel understonde.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Alison the Wife of Bath is sometimes viewed as the voice of the independent, liberated woman of her time. She challenges the male view on women’s relationships and marriage. She disputes the interpretation of the Bible that she should marry only once, saying that men interpret religious texts to suit their own views. Defending marriage as a legitimate life choice, and her own five marriages, she quotes God’s commandment in the Bible: "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28).

Eek wel I woot, he seyde myn housbonde
Sholde lete fader and mooder and take to me.
But of no nombre mencion made he,
Of bigamye, or of octogamye;
Why sholde men thanne speke of it vileynye?

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. The hypocritical double standard applied to men and women in the area of relationships and marriage is attacked here. The Wife of Bath argues that the five men who each in turn were allowed by God to ask for her hand in marriage and God made no mention of number, of marrying two or marrying eight. So why should men then speak evil of her for marrying them.

Myn housbonde shal it have bothe eve and morwe,
Whan that hym list come forth and paye his dette.
An housbonde I wol have – I wol nat lette –
Which shal be bothe my dettour and my thral,
And have his tribulacion withal
Upon his flessh, whil that I am his wyf.
I have the power durynge al my lyf
Upon his propre body, and noght he.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. At a time when men held superiority over women and the latter were dependent on men, the Wife of Bath has reversed those roles. Her husband can have sex evenings and mornings – when it pleases him to pay his debt! But sex to the Wife is a debt that a husband owes to her in marriage. It is also a way of exercising power over her husband, who is her debtor and her slave. She has the power over his body, and not he.

Now herkneth hou I baar me proprely,
Ye wise wyves, that kan understonde.
Thus shulde ye speke and bere hem wrong on honde,
For half so boldely kan ther no man
Swere and lyen, as a womman kan.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Calling on wives to listen to her carefully, Alison suggests that they use manipulation and aggression to get their own way with husbands and show that they are in charge. Women are better at lying and swearing than men, and they should accuse husbands wrongfully and put them in their place. The Wife of Bath has to be one of the most immoral characters in The Canterbury Tales.

A wys wyf, if that she kan hir good,
Shal beren hym on honde the cow is wood,
And take witnesse of hir owene mayde,
Of hir assent.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. A smart wife will be able to deceive her husband and convince him of anything and call her maid as a witness, advices the Wife of Bath. Just fool him by swearing "the cow is wood" (the chough is crazy), she says, referring to the story of the talking bird that tells the husband about his wife’s unfaithfulness.

Sire olde kaynard, is this thyn array?
Why is my neighebores wyf so gay?
She is honoured overal ther she gooth;
I sitte at hoom; I have no thrifty clooth.
What dostow at my neighebores hous?
Is she so fair? Artow so amorous?
What rowne ye with oure mayde? Benedicite!
Sire olde lecchour, lat thy japes be!

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.
In her battle of the sexes, the Wife of Bath replays how she exercised control of her three old husbands. She harangues her husband, showing contempt for him and challenging his male authority. She complains that one neighbor’s wife is better dressed than she and looked up to by all. She queries why her husband is spending so much time at her neighbor’s house and also whispering to her maid, calling him a lecher and suggesting he is lusting after them.

Thou seyst som folk desiren us for richesse,
Somme for oure shap, and somme for oure fairnesse,
And som for she kan outher synge or daunce,
And som for gentillesse and daliaunce;
Som for hir handes and hir armes smale;
Thus goth al to the devel, by thy tale.
Thou seyst men may nat kepe a castel wal,
It may so longe assailled been overal.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Pity the Wife of Bath’s first three husbands. Here she replays how she railed at them for saying that men desired women for their money, their shape, their beauty, because they could sing or dance, or they came from a good family and flirted a lot. That all goes to the devil, the husbands say, there is always some reason a wife is going to cheat – no castle wall can stand up to constant attack. Of course it’s all fiction and the Wife is making it up, pretending to her husbands that they said these things while they were drunk. All so that this aggressive, medieval feminist can ensure the woman has sovereignty in a marriage.

And if that she be foul, thou seist that she
Coveiteth every man that she may se,
For as a spanyel she wol on hym lepe,
Til that she fynde som man hire to chepe.
Ne noon so grey goos gooth ther in the lake
As, seistow, wol been withoute make.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Referring to ugly women as dogs, the Wife of Bath says that an ugly woman is viewed as coveting every man she sees, leaping on them like a spaniel until she finds some man to take her. Ugly women may lack mates, but they have passion and desire a mate. No drab grey goose goes to the lake to be without a partner, Alison says, using an animal metaphor to make her point.

Thou seyst also, that if we make us gay
With clothyng, and with precious array,
That it is peril of oure chastitee;
And yet – with sorwe! – thou most enforce thee,
And seye thise wordes in the Apostles name:
"In habit maad with chastitee and shame
Ye wommen shul apparaille yow," quod he,
"And noght in tressed heer and gay perree,
As perles, ne with gold, ne clothes riche."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. This is a Biblical allusion to what Saint Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:9 – "I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes." The Wife of Bath scolds her husbands for telling her in the Apostle’s words that if women dress themselves up in expensive clothes, fancy hairstyes or pearls or gold, they are endangering their chastity. She later admits they never said this.

Thou liknest eek wommenes love to helle,
To bareyne lond, ther water may nat dwelle.
Thou liknest it also to wilde fyr;
The moore it brenneth, the moore it hath desir
To consume every thyng that brent wole be.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Her first three husbands would compare women’s love to hell or barren land, the Wife of Bath complains to them. They also compared it to Greek fire that never goes out, the more it burns the more it desires to consume everything that can be burned (the burning fire is used as a metaphor). Did her husbands actually say that? No they didn’t, she later confesses she made it all up to keep them in check!

Under that colour hadde I many a myrthe.
For al swich wit is yeven us in oure byrthe;
Deceite, wepyng, spynnyng God hath yive
To wommen kyndely, whil that they may lyve.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Enjoying great fun from pretending to be jealous of her husbands, the Wife of Bath says that women are gifted from birth with skills in deceit, weeping and spinning. These come naturally to them their whole lives. Honesty and truth don’t seem to rank very high in the Wife’s moral code.

And after wyn on Venus moste I thynke,
For al so siker as cold engendreth hayl,
A likerous mouth moste han a likerous tayl.
In wommen vinolent is no defence –
This knowen lecchours by experience.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Finding pleasure in wine, the Wife of Bath says that wine leads to thoughts of Venus and sex. Making the connection between wine and Venus, she says rather soberingly that lecherous men know by experience that drunken women have no defense against them.

We wommen han, if that I shal nat lye,
In this matere a queynte fantasye:
Wayte what thyng we may nat lightly have,
Therafter wol we crie al day and crave.
Forbede us thyng, and that desiren we;
Preesse on us faste, and thanne wol we fle.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Forbid women something and they will desire it, crying all day and craving for it, the Wife of Bath says. She is referring to women who love men who treat them badly – like her attraction to fifth husband Jankin, who has beaten her and been standoffish with his love.

With daunger oute we al oure chaffare;
Greet prees at market maketh deere ware,
And to greet cheep is holde at litel prys:
This knoweth every womman that is wys.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. As usual the Wife of Bath Alison compares relationships and love to commerce. When you sparingly offer your goods at the market this creates scarcity and makes them more expensive. But too great a supply makes your merchandise too cheap. Every woman knows this, she says.

He hadde a book that gladly, nyght and day,
For his desport he wolde rede alway;
He cleped it Valerie and Theofraste,
At which book he lough alwey ful faste.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Jankin regularly reads for his amusement a compilation volume of anti-feminist literature, including works from Theophrastus, St. Jerome, Tertullian and Solomon. He takes particular pleasure and heartily laughed whenever he did so, annoying the Wife of Bath, seen by some today as a feminist of the medieval times, although others see her portrayal of women as anti-feminist.

For trusteth wel, it is an impossible
That any clerk wol speke good of wyves,
But if it be of hooly seintes lyves,
Ne of noon oother womman never the mo.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. The Wife of Bath says that it is an impossibility for any male clerical writer to speak good of women, unless it be the lives of the saints. So a woman has to be a saint to get a good review from them. A regular woman – like the Wife of Bath perhaps, though she’s not typical of women of her time – hasn’t a hope.

By God, if wommen hadde writen stories,
As clerkes han withinne hire oratories,
They wolde han writen of men moore wikkednesse
Than al the mark of Adam may redresse.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. A very potent argument against all the misogynistic texts by clerical writers is presented here by the Wife of Bath. They were all written by men! Had women written the stories, she says, they would have documented more wickedness than all the male sex could set right!

The children of Mercurie and of Venus
Been in hir wirkyng ful contrarius;
Mercurie loveth wysdam and science,
And Venus loveth ryot and dispence.
And, for hire diverse disposicioun…
And Venus falleth ther Mercurie is reysed.
Therfore no womman of no clerk is preysed.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. The childen of Mercury, who love wisdom and science, and the children of Venus goddess of love, who love pleasure and expense, are naturally at odds with one another. Venus falls when Mercury is raised, meaning women and clerks (church writers) cannot peacefully coexist. Therefore no woman is ever praised by a church writer.

The clerk, whan he is oold, and may noght do
Of Venus werkes worth his olde sho,
Thanne sit he doun, and writ in his dotage
That wommen kan nat kepe hir mariage!

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. When a clerical writer is old and and is incapable of using his "olde sho" (old shoe as in penis) to perform sex, he sits down and in his old age writes that women cannot keep their vow of marriage. The Wife of Bath is challenging the clerical writer’s anti-women view and reduces it to simply jealousy.

"Bet is," quod he, "thyn habitacioun
Be with a leon, or a foul dragoun,
Than with a womman usynge for to chyde.
Bet is," quod he, "hye in the roof abyde,
Than with an angry wyf doun in the hous;
They been so wikked and contrarious.
They haten that hir housbondes loveth ay."
He seyde, "a womman cast hir shame away
Whan she cast of hir smok," and forthermo,
"A fair womman, but she be chaast also,
Is lyk a gold ryng in a sowes nose."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. "It’s better to live with a lion or a ferocious dragon than with a woman who nags all the time." This is just one of a torrent of mysogynistic proverbs spewed out by Jankin, as he made his wife listen while he read extracts from his anti-feminist Book of Wicked Wives. But it becomes the last straw for the Wife of Bath who takes swift action after this humiliation.

But atte laste, with muchel care and wo,
We fille acorded by us selven two.
He yaf me al the bridel in myn hond,
To han the governance of hous and lond,
And of his tonge, and of his hond also;
And made hym brenne his book anon right tho.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. After a fist fight between Jankin and Alison during which she lay down as if dead, Jankin asked Alison for forgiveness and they made an agreement. He gave her control of all their property and she made him burn his Book of Wicked Wives there and then. In that way the Wife of Bath masterfully gained sovereignty over her fifth husband.

Wommen may go saufly up and doun.
In every bussh or under every tree
Ther is noon oother incubus but he,
And he ne wol doon hem but dishonour.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Now women don’t have to worry about demons hiding in the forest and accosting and impregnating them, says the Wife of Bath. They have to worry about friars, who would do them nothing but dishonor. An incubus is a male demon who sexual intercourse with sleeping women, sometimes producing a child with them.

But that the queene and other ladyes mo
So longe preyeden the kyng of grace
Til he his lyf hym graunted in the place,
And yaf hym to the queene, al at hir wille,
To chese wheither she wolde hym save or spille.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The lucky Knight gets a reprieve from execution when the queen with her ladies intercedes with the king to ask him for mercy. The king grants the Knight his life and hands him over to the queen, who has the power to chose whether she will save him or put him to death. There is an irony in the Knight’s situation: he commits a crime against a woman and now King Arthur puts his fate in the hands of another woman, the queen, who has mastery over him and the power to say if he lives or dies.
What thyng is it that wommen moost desiren - Wife of Bath's Tale

I grante thee lyf, if thou kanst tellen me
What thyng is it that wommen moost desiren.
Be war, and keep thy nekke-boon from iren!

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The female tribunal led by the queen grants life to the young Knight facing being beheaded for raping a maiden, on one condition. He must answer one question: what is it that women most desire? If he cannot answer the question there and then, he is given twelve months to come up with a satisfactory answer. If he fails, he faces the axe on his neck.

Somme seyde that oure hertes been moost esed
Whan that we been yflatered and yplesed.
He gooth ful ny the sothe, I wol nat lye.
A man shal wynne us best with flaterye,
And with attendance and with bisynesse
Been we ylymed, bothe moore and lesse.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. So how does a man win over a woman’s heart? Some people tell the Knight that a woman’s heart is most eased when they are flattered and pleased, and given constant attention. Those people who said this go very near the truth, admits Alison the Wife of Bath.
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