CHARACTERIZATION OF "A WORTHY WOMAN FROM BESIDE BATH".

The object of the present work is to analyse the characterization of “ the wife of Bath” from “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Considering the title the intelligent reader can understand   this woman’s social class thanks to the adjective "worthy", we can infer that she belongs to the middle class.

Now moving on with the analysis, the poet presents her in an indirect way by using the telling technique. He describes her profession,  her clothes, her journeys, her physical  appearance, her attitudes, her experiences and her way of relating to men and women.

In the first two lines, the narrator describes some physical details and her origin. She is a wealthy merchant coming from Bath and she is deaf in one ear.

Afterwards, the narrator underlines her skills in making clothes and business.  Other features of her personality are presented. Her attitude is superficial and vain rather than pious. You can understand this thanks to the fourth line when Chaucer presents her relationships in the parish. She looks bold and dominant towards  other women, no one dares to surpass her generosity at service because they know she could get irritated or even angry. The narrator underlines her eccentric personality and also that she is respected and feared.

Then Chaucer moves on describing her way of dressing. She likes wearing coloured, beautiful, exuberant clothes and accessories. She uses different clothes for every occasion:  "her kerchiefs were of finely woven ground, her hose was of the finest scarlet red, her shoes were soft and new”. By writing this the poet wants to highlight that she pays attention to her appearance and that she is well off.

 The poet goes on describing her face using some adjectives: bold and handsome, and red of hue. Thanks to this connotation her image strikes the reader’s mind. The narrator tells that she is beautiful and somehow bold, and this last adjective reinforces the character‘s main connotation.

In the following lines, Chaucer refers to her past love experiences. She has survived five husbands and other company in love. This helps to account for her eccentric personality.

Her previous journeys are mentioned. She has been three times to Jerusalem, probably on pilgrimage, to Rome, Boulogne, St James of Compostella and Cologne. She is skilled in wandering, she likes travelling a lot and has had many adventures. She has a gap between her front teeth, which was considered attractive in Chaucer’s time and so she is presumably lustful. 

Those two aspects (multiple marriages and journeys) are used by the author to underline her independence, the fact that she is free and not tied to anything. At the same time, she is able to seduce a man and to travel on her own.

 Chaucer ends her characterization by giving other details about her appearance, a sign of sensual personality and love for travelling. We can see her sitting on her horse, wearing a huge hat that captures people’s attention. She is wearing also a long mantel that covers her large hips, which emphasizes her sensual appearance.

Finally, Chaucer concludes  with a refrence to her way of relating: she liked laughing and chatting, and in the end, she is an expert in love affairs, since she knows the oldest dances of love art.