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.