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The Wife of Birth and Her Relation to the Themes of Sex, Marriage and Dominion

Chaucer has been a great writer of all times, and this can be seen from his stories that portray modern society and how it is still connected to the ancient communities. One of Chaucer’s greatest novels is the Canterbury Tales that consists of several stories that are all intriguing. Among the stories, “The Wife of Bath” is the most intriguing having a feminist approach and to which tries to portly a society dominated by women. The primary themes of ‘The Wife of Bath’ are sex, marriage, and domination, and the author has greatly emphasized the three through the main character, and that is The Wife of Bath. In the early times, sex between unmarried people was regarded as a sin, and a person who was involved in sex illegally was looked down upon in scorn. A large population of the time was religious and therefore did not approve of the sex, terming sex as an institution in marriage alone. However, The Wife of Bath is defiant of the church rules, and her character is entirely different from what is expected of her by both the church and the society.

The Wife of Bath is outlined as a vivacious character not only in ‘The Wife of Bath’ but also in the entire Canterbury Tales as she is presented as a flawed and more realistic character. Initially, The Wife of Bath got married at an early age of twelve years, and since then, she has had five husbands from whom she has amassed a lot of wealth. Besides, The Wife of Bath had other sexual relationships outside her marriage, and this implies that she has not been faithful in her relationships. Being married at an early age indicates the institution of marriage as not highly regarded as at the age of twelve a person is too young to be married, but The Wife of Bath defied the odd getting married not only to one man but to several and even cheating on them during her marriage.

The Wife of Bath is also a talented woman as she is a cloth maker, and we are told that her skills surpassed those of the weavers in Ypres and Ghent, and besides this, she has greatly travelled across the world, something unnatural for a woman during her times. Chaucer notes that she has traveled to the pilgrimages in Jerusalem, Spain, Boulogne, and Cologne. However, it should be noted that all her journeys to the pilgrimages were not as a result of her devotion to religious believes, but it is a reflection of her socialization status as well as motive or drives to find another husband. Through this, she is depicted as an outgoing character who is able to socialize even at her most trying moments.

Regarding her appearance, The Wife of Bath is described by the author through her physical looks as well as the clothing that she wears. The description is an implication that she is very sexually aware. However, she is not described as a beautiful woman as the author describes her in line 458 as a “Bold was her face, and fair, and red of hue.” However, she did not depend on beauty to attract men into marrying her as her apparel indicates the trappings of wealth and sexual display, which she displays with her body. She is described as wearing tightly-laced scarlet stockings, sharp spurs, shiny new shoes, and fine head garments. Through this description, we get to see a sexually hungry woman who is devoted to attracting men to her body, and even without beauty, she uses her dressing style, like a prostitute, to gain dominion over men. All the details in her dressing description make her perceived as a flamboyant and extravagant character who does it intend to attract attention from others. The Wife of Birth, therefore, cannot only be described as egocentric but also a proud woman who likes showing off her possession.

The red color to which the author uses to describe The Wife of Birth’s looks is a representation of her sexuality and sense of her own significance as well as dominance over others. The Wife of Birth laments of her past, claiming that she was once full of beauty and she has lost her youth and vigor as she ages “But age, alas, that poisons everything, / Has taken away my beauty and my spirit.” Through her lamentations, she wistfully acknowledges how she has declined in her attractiveness. The Wife of Birth at the time of narration was now over forty years, having gaps on her tooth. With wide hips, to her, the gap-teeth tends to suit her well, and to her, this is intentional as, during the medieval folklore, the gapped teeth was a feature that was associated with lustfulness. Her lustfulness has been emphasized by the fact that the author refers to her “wondering by the way,” which can be described as a metaphor that implies her weakness for sexual affairs.

Other than her character and appearance, The Wife of Birth is described as being pushy, brazen, and self-confident, and this is highly evident from her introductory lines that are indicative of her claims of authority through her vast experiences in her marriages. The Wife of Birth frankly makes admissions that she has been married to all the husbands due to her lust for wealth, they are all wealthy, and this is one of her agenda she looked at when being engaged into a man. However, all her marriages do not conform to societal gender expectations as her role as a woman is not implicit in her marriages. She tends to dominate in her marriages and thus acting against the societal norms. The Wife of Birth also makes revelations of some of the tricks that she uses in her marriage in order to gain mastery over her husband.

On the surface, three husbands are perceived to have treated her well, and this is because they have offered her land and money, and they have been eager to bring her things from the fair. However, The Wife of Birth is driven by dominance over her men, and thus she abuses the men’s kindness and realizes that she doesn’t need to work so that she gains their love. Furthermore, she did not have to please them unless hit was of her own profit, an indication that she used sex as a tool to control men in her marriages. She used to manipulate the husbands, taking advantage of their love to source wealth from them, an implication that she is a sexual predator. The Wife of Birth’s confessions that she used her husbands to get profit is also a suggestion that she is materialistic, in that she uses men and the institution of marriage for her selfish gains of self-advancement. However, she did not have a conscious that her treatment to her husband was immoral, and since most of them died, it might be perceived that she had something to do with their deaths.

In another perspective, The Wife of Birth had a different perception of life, and this can be seen from her liberal attitudes towards sexuality as well as the concepts of freedom to women. It should be noted that in ancient times, most of the societies were dominated by men, and women were granted very little freedom. However, in ‘The Wife of Birth’ the Wife controversially how she is capable of using her body to gain dominion over men and in her defense, she argues that since God has provided her with the genitals that she intends to use to get men, then it is not a problem. Through this, she comes to challenge the church and its teachings about marriage and about women and sexual ethics. Through her comments and bawdy language, The Wife of Birth can be characterized as a shrewish harpy who is characterized by loose morals. However, from another perspective, she has been used by the author to illustrate the double standards that were directed to women during medieval times. In her introduction, The Wife of Birth argues that she has the right to remarry after the death of her husband, but this was against the teachings of the church in regard to chastity, which according to the believers, was more desirable than having a second husband or another marriage. However, The Wife of Birth challenges the teachings providing examples in the Bible to support her right to remarry. For example, she cites men such as Abraham and Jacob, who had many wives and yet had a close relationship with God.

Finally, The Wife of Birth has been described as a woman who is manipulative and uses her ability to manipulate not only the scripture but also men to her own advantage. To the scripture, she cites her right to remarry and also claims that her genitals were God-given, and thus she could use them according to how she perceived as right. She, therefore, enjoys the epitome of freedom as a woman, not like any other women in her society. However, she missuses her independence to dominate men through sexual control. She also uses it to solicit wealth and thus can be described as an opportunist. The Wife of Birth, therefore, matches the main themes of the tale that is sex, marriage, and dominion in greater lengths.

Works Cited

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury tales and other poems. BoD–Books on Demand, 2018.