The Wife of Bath's Characterization

The Wife of Bath is one of the characters of the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales and that represents the middle class.

The character is introduced with reference to her social status, that is, her occupation and her home-town(first line).

In the third and fourth line the poet adds a piece of information about her occupation: "she skilled a clothmaker, that she outdistanced even the weavers of Ypres and Ghent", which were two important centres of Flemish weaving.

Going on reading Geoffrey Chaucer tells to the reader about her behaviour: she is vain and she becomes furious if somebody dared to precede her at the almsgiving. It means she wanted to be the best every time and that she wasn't so religious. Her only aim was to be the first.

The next step about her characterisation it's her appearance and way of dressing: she is rich, the Wife's clothes were by precious materials, her face is wreathed in heavy cloth, her stockings are a fine scarlet colour, symbol of her sex-appeal, and the leather on her shoes is soft and fresh demonstrating how wealthy she has become.

The poet after tells the reader also about her past: she has a lot of experience, she has travelled all over the world on pilgrimages, so Canterbury is a jaunt compared to other  journeys she has endured.

She has been married five times, "not counting other loves, she'd had in youth".

In line 24  the poet wants to underline a particular aspect: "she as gap-teethed, if you take my meaning ". In medieval imaginary teeth widely spaced were considered a sign of a lascivious nature.

In the lasts lines Chaucer describes her way to ride a horse and underlines one more time the sensual aspect of the Wife of Bath: "she knew all the cures for love, for at that game she was a past mistress."

Finally Chaucer makes up a characterization with irony of her overdressing, her extraordinary number of husbands, her behaviour which seems to contradict her respectability and her pilgrimage for a purpose which is probably anything but religious.