TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
The Wife of Bath (from line 9)
Another catgory the narrator uses to describe the wife of Bath is her aspect. She wear kerchifes fiely woven ground, hose of the finest scarlet red and gartered tight, shoes soft and new. So she wear fine clothes: this aspect shows the reader that the dame was a classy and wealthy woman. Her face is bold, handsome and red in hue, so she is a beautiful girl too. Her beauty and her “worthy” (line 15) are probably the reasons why she’d had five husbands, apart “other company in youth”. The narrator continues the narration telling about her numerous travels: she’d been to Jerusalem, Rome, Boulogne, St James of Compostella and Cologne, passing “many strange rivers” (line 20). She is an able rider too: from line 25 the narrator describes the dame riding a horse with her hat (“as broad as is a buckler or a shield”, line 27), her flowing mantle and her heels spurred. The intelligent reader can understand that she is skilled in wandering by the way and she likes traveling the world. He can also understand that she is an independent woman. Finally, the narrator analyzes her behavior: she likes chatting and laughing in company, so the dame is not only beautiful and fascinating, but also extrovert. She knows the remedies for love’s mischances too: she is an expert on the matter, and the reader can imagine it since from line 16, when the narrator tells about her numerous relationships.