This text is an extract
of (from) [the ]G. Chaucer's book "Canterbury Tales" which describe[s] 29 pilgrims as the
stereotypes of the English Society in the 14^th Century. The text is
rhymed AABB. Chaucer as usual put the objects before the subject and the verb,
this wants to underline the actions.

Right from the title the
reader can understand that the text will talk about a woman, a married woman
who comes from Bath, a place near the sea. The start "There was" reminds a
fairy tale, so the reader can understand that the woman doesn't really exist but
she is imaginary. In the first four lines Chaucer underlines the woman's wealth
and the woman's skills to do her job, she was a weaver. A woman who had a job,
was rich and had skill in the Middle Ages was not esteemed by men; women had to
take care for the children and for the house so Chaucer makes a fool of her and
says she is pity. From the fifth line to the eighth line the writer explains
the woman's conceit: she wants to be the first to do offerings and if someone
dares to precede her she gets angry. From the ninth line to the fourth line
Chaucer describes three aspects of this wife:

-he says again she is
very rich

à her headscarves are heavy, weave is
of the finest ones.

                                                      à her stocking are colored of scarlet
red, this color was very precious.                                                                             

                                                      à her shoes are new, she has shoes
and they are new.

                                                      à she is florid, in the Middle
Ages florid women were the rich ones because    they had money to buy food.

-he talks again about her
character: she is self-centered, she wears red and uses loud headscarves. Also in
the twenty-sixth line to the twenty-ninth line he explains how she is dressed and
again he underlines she is self-centered: her hat may be a shield, she want not
to pass unnoticed.

-he explains how she is: her
face is bold, she is handsome, she is gap-toothed and she has big hips, the
writer describes her as the emblem of the sensual woman of the middle Ages.

From the sixteenth line to
the eighteenth line Chaucer narrates about her lovers and her husbands. He says
she had five husbands so the intelligent reader can understand that they have died,
maybe she has killed them. From the nineteenth line to the twenty-third line
the writer explains all her trips and also explains that she went on those trips
especially to know new men and this also explains why she sits on a horse
during the pilgrimage (line 25^th): she is not interested in the
pilgrimage and in having difficulty that the pilgrim has to have during the
pilgrimage, she is interested in knowing new men. In the last three lines the
reader can understand that she makes advances with the other pilgrims and helps
them with their love problems  or maybe
teaches them how to love.