Wife of Bath Marriage Quotes

Experience, though noon auctoritee
Were in this world, is right ynough for me
To speke of wo that is in mariage;
For, lordynges, sith I twelve yeer was of age,
Thonked be God that is eterne on lyve,
Housbondes at chirche dore I have had fyve.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. The Wife of Bath Alison says that she is a believer in experience rather than written authority. Having been married since the age of twelve and having had five husbands, she feels she is well qualified to speak on the woe that is in marriage. This is really ironic as most of the woe was inflicted by Alison on her suffering husbands! It also makes her something of a hypocrite when she says marriage brought her nothing but woe, and then goes on to thank God for having five husbands.

But me was toold, certeyn, nat longe agoon is,
That sith that Crist ne wente nevere but onis
To weddyng, in the Cane of Galilee,
That by the same ensample taughte he me
That I ne sholde wedded be but ones.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. In the time of Chaucer it was common enough thinking that a widowed woman should not marry again, but devote herself to celibacy or convent life. And the Wife of Bath says she has been told that since Christ went but once to a wedding, he taught that she should be wedded but once.

How manye myghte she have in mariage?
Yet herde I nevere tellen in myn age
Upon this nombre diffinicioun.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. A firm advocate of marriage, the Wife of Bath has had five husbands. So she cannot understand how Jesus can reprove the Samaritan woman at the well for having married five times, telling her the fifth man was not her husband. How many might she have in marriage, asks the Wife of Bath, insisting she has never heard a definition of this number.

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.

As wolde God it leveful were unto me
To be refresshed half so ofte as he!
Which yifte of God hadde he for alle his wyvys!
No man hath swich that in this world alyve is.
God woot, this noble kyng, as to my wit,
The firste nyght had many a myrie fit
With ech of hem, so wel was hym on lyve.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Solomon’s sex life becomes a hot topic for the Wife of Bath. Having multiple wives, she appears to almost envy the merrymaking he enjoyed on his wedding nights. If only God would permit her to be refreshed half as often as Solomon was, she says irreverently.
Yblessed be God, that I have wedded fyve - Wife of Bath

Yblessed be God, that I have wedded fyve;
Of whiche I have pyked out the beste,
Bothe of here nether purs and of here cheste.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Thanking God that she wedded five husbands and picked out the best, the Wife of Bath reveals what she looked for in each of them. Sexual potency ("nether purs" – scrotum) and wealth ("here cheste" – strongbox) were the two requirements. A husband had to provide her with sexual satisfaction and financial security.

Of fyve husbondes scoleiyng am I.
Welcome the sixte, whan that evere he shal.
For sothe, I wol nat kepe me chaast in al.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Setting out her education record, the Wife of Bath’s says that she has five husbands’ schooling! And she welcomes the sixth, whenever he may appear. Does that amount to a Doctorate in Marital Affairs? In the Wife’s world of sexual morality, keeping chase (abstaining from sex) is not an option for her.

Whan myn housbonde is fro the world ygon,
Som Cristen man shal wedde me anon.
For thanne th’ apostle seith that I am free
To wedde, a Goddes half, where it liketh me.
He seith that to be wedded is no synne;
Bet is to be wedded than to brynne.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. In her argument for the right to another Christian man when husband number five dies, the Wife of Bath cites the Bible and Saint Paul. In 1 Corinthians 7:9, he says: "Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." We don’t think Paul would agree with her interpretation of his views on sexual morality.

For hadde God comanded maydenhede,
Thanne hadde he dampned weddyng with the dede.
And certes, if ther were no seed ysowe,
Virginitee, thanne wherof sholde it growe?

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. A strong argument against virginity is put forward by the Wife of Bath. If God had condemned marriage along with the act of procreation, where would virginity come from, she asks? What she is saying is that if everyone was chase there would be virgins because there would be no people.

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.

I have the power durynge al my lyf
Upon his propre body, and noght he.
Right thus the Apostel tolde it unto me,
And bad oure housbondes for to love us weel.
Al this sentence me liketh every deel.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Husbands are commanded to love their wives well, the Wife of Bath says quoting the Apostle Paul. By love she obviously means sexual lovemaking, as she is talking about having power over her husband’s body. Paul certainly did say in Ephesians 5:25: "Husbands, love your wives." But he also commanded that wives must respect her husbands – and this Wife of Bath certainly doesn’t!

And whan that I have toold thee forth my tale
Of tribulacion in mariage,
Of which I am expert in al myn age –
This is to seyn, myself have been the whippe –
Than maystow chese wheither thou wolt sippe
Of thilke tonne that I shal abroche.
Be war of it, er thou to ny approche.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. After the Pardoner interrupts Alison, worried because he is about to be married, he is told by her to shut up and have another drink. Using the metaphor of a cask of wine for marriage, the Wife of Bath says that when she, an expert on the tribulation in marriage, has told her tale, then will he be able to make up his own mind on whether sip from that cask or not.

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.

Thow seyst we wyves wol oure vices hide
Til we be fast, and thanne we wol hem shewe –
Wel may that be a proverbe of a shrewe!

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. The Wife of Bath accused her first three husbands of drunkenly saying that wives hid their vices, until they had trapped their man into marrying them. And then they showed them. That’s the proverb of a scoundrel, she lashed at them. But she is lying in order to control her husbands, as they didn’t say any of these things.

Thou seist that oxen, asses, hors, and houndes,
They been assayed at diverse stoundes;
Bacyns, lavours, er that men hem bye,
Spoones and stooles, and al swich housbondrye,
And so been pottes, clothes, and array;
But folk of wyves maken noon assay,
Til they be wedded – olde dotard shrewe! –
And thanne, seistow, we wol oure vices shewe.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. According to the Wife of Bath, her first three husbands complained that, unlike with purchasing a farm animal, clothing or item of houseware, a husband cannot test out a wife until they are wedded. And then, her husbands said, the wife will show her vices. But they never actually said this, she makes them think they did during a drunken session.

But tel me this: why hydestow, with sorwe,
The keyes of thy cheste awey fro me?
It is my good as wel as thyn, pardee!

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is my own! Marital equality goes out the window if you’re married to the Wife of Bath. In this passage Alison demands the keys of the strongbox from her husband that she claims he is hiding, saying the money is her property as well as his. Her goal is total control over her husband and his wealth.

For certeinly – I sey for no bobance –
Yet was I nevere withouten purveiance
Of mariage, n’ of othere thynges eek.
I holde a mouses herte nat worth a leek
That hath but oon hole for to sterte to,
And if that faille, thanne is al ydo.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Always with a backup plan in place when it comes to marriage, the Wife of Bath while still married to her fourth husband flirted with Jankin and they agreed to marry when she next became a widow. She explains using one of her domestic metaphors: a mouse’s heart with only one hole to flee to not worth a leek, if that should fail, then all is lost. Her flirtation with Jankin while at the same time complaining about her husband’s adultery makes her a hypocrite.

This joly clerk, Jankyn, that was so hende,
Hath wedded me with greet solempnytee,
And to hym yaf I al the lond and fee
That evere was me yeven therbifoore.
But afterward repented me ful soore;
He nolde suffre nothyng of my list.
By God, he smoot me ones on the lyst,
For that I rente out of his book a leef,
That of the strook myn ere wax al deef.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Smitten by the young Jankin who marries her with great solemnity, the Wife of Bath hands over all the land and property she inherited from her previous husbands. But she very quickly regrets this. But Jankin turns out to be a wife beater who will not allow her any of her desires. He makes her deaf in one ear when he hits her because she tears a page from his book.

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.

And whan that I hadde geten unto me,
By maistrie, al the soveraynetee,
And that he seyde, "Myn owene trewe wyf,
Do as thee lust the terme of al thy lyf;
Keep thyn honour, and keep eek myn estaat" –
After that day we hadden never debaat.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. The Woman of Bath Alison is a woman ahead of her time and probably Chaucer’s most vital creation. Having by her mastery and manipulation achieved sovereignty in her marriage to the young Jankin, he speaks in words of complete submission, telling his own true wife to do as she pleases the rest of her life. After that day they never had an argument, she adds.
that thou me take unto thy wyf - Loathly Lady in The Canterbury Tales

"Mercy," quod she, "my sovereyn lady queene!
Er that youre court departe, do me right.
I taughte this answere unto the knyght;
For which he plighte me his trouthe there,
The firste thyng that I wolde hym requere
He wolde it do, if it lay in his myghte.
Bifore the court thanne preye I thee, sir knyght,"
Quod she, "that thou me take unto thy wyf,
For wel thou woost that I have kept thy lyf.
If I seye fals, sey nay, upon thy fey!"

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. This passage is all about woman power. The Loathly Lady who provided the Knight with the answer to the queen’s riddle speaks up before the queen’s court, requesting that the she grant her her right. She announces the Knight’s pledge that the first thing she would ask of him he would do, if it lay in his power. So she calls on the Knight to honor his promise and marry her.
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