Analysis of “The Wife of Bath”

Right from the title, the reader can understand that the extract from “the Canterbury Tales” is about the character the wife of Bath. Indeed, the wife refers to her social status while Bath refers to the town where she comes from. Therefore, looking at the title, the reader is interested in knowing something more about her identity.

The omniscient narrator introduces the character telling that she is a worthy woman and comes from the city of Bath. The first piece of information is about her economic skill, which links to her social skill.                                     A “worthy woman” suggests an image of an intelligent woman who was educated.                                                                           Indeed the piece of information makes the reader think about an unusual woman who is not a peasant.                          The narrator goes on telling she is deaf and that was a pity. Such information creates curiosity and mystery about her identity. The reader is curious to find out why the narrator has told this information.                                                The narrator tells she is skilful in “making clothes” and “in all the parish not a dame dared stir towards the altar steps in front of her”(lines 3-5-6). The narrator provides some information about her ability.                           Such information give an image of a strange “wife”. The wife has a mysterious identity to be discovered.   Consequently, she is considered an important and authoritative woman among the people of the city.                      She has a high reputation so it confirms that she comes from a rich and important family in the society.                          If someone doesn’t behave like she pretends, she gets angrier and angrier. The behaviour reveals her way of thinking and living. She comes from a high position in the social class indeed she can rule the other people. She gets angry because she pretends to have the control of situations indeed she is probably an instinctive person who cares about herself.                                                                                                                                     From 9 to 13 line, the narrator focuses on her outfit; she wears valuable kerchiefs with scarlet red hose and shoes. Such information about her clothing underlines the belonging to a rich social class; she doesn’t wear like a poor and common person. The clothing is punctual and refined; therefore she is different from the other ordinary women. In the line14, the narrator provides a personal opinion about the lady’s physical appearance; he thinks she looks very pretty. Another relevant piece of information is that she got married with five husbands and she has had many other lovers during her life. It implies that she is an attractive woman able to catch the attention of the men. Indeed, the five marriages suggest that she is an unusual wife because she has disobeyed the “Church laws”. It makes the reader think about a woman not religious too. But at the same time the narrator tells she went on pilgrimages to the most important pilgrimage sites of the Middle Ages like Rome, Jerusalem, St. James of Campostella, Boulogne and Cologne.                                                     She has mysterious and contradictory features which increase the reader’s attention.                                                                    An interesting observation is that the narrator doesn’t say the real name of the “wife of Bath”. Such narrator’s choice keeps mystery and curiosity about the woman.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       At last, the narrator moves from the past to the present while the pilgrims, included the wife of Bath, are going to Canterbury. She is on a horse back with a strange hat and she is laughing and chatting with the other peers. Her behaviour reveals her past ability in flirting with the men. The narrator uses words conveying meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning in order to create curiosity and reflection. Playing irony, the reader gets the impression that the wife of Bath went on pilgrimages not for her devotion to God.