Feb. 26th: Wife of Bath’s Prologue

TheĀ Wife of Bath’s Prologue is a series of stories of the Wife’s five husbands. Her fifth husband is particularly interesting – an abusive misogynist who is ultimately tamed by the Wife. Why do you think the Wife prays to God to bless his soul (826-7)? Why does she seem to hold him in such high regard despite the lasting injuries he inflicted upon her?

One thought on “Feb. 26th: Wife of Bath’s Prologue

  1. The Wife begins by saying that she wishes her fifth husband to never wind up in Hell, despite the fact that he beats her. She goes on to explain how she met him while she was still married to her fourth husband, and after her fourth husband’s death, she married him for love rather than riches. She explains how she believes she loved him most because he was hard to get, stating that women always want what they can’t have. Because of his misogyny and all that he read about horrible wives, she was most proud of being able to whip him into shape than she was with her previous husbands. Despite the fact that he hurt her, she seems to respect him more than the men she married before, who she could more easily manipulate. For instance, she met the fitfh husband when her fourth was out of town and she would leave the house often. Once she marries him, however, he does not allow her to leave. He is not so easily overlooked as her previous husbands and this grants him more respect or “love” from her.

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