In “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” the knight is told by the hag that he must choose whether he would like her to be an old, true, and humble wife or have her young and fair. He responds in lines 1232-1235 with, “…’Cheseth youreself which may be moost plesance And moost honour to yow and me also. I do no fors the wheither of the two, For as yow liketh, it suffiseth me’ “. Was the knight’s decision influenced by what the hag had said earlier about wives wanting to be in control of their marriages or does he simply give that answer because he believes it is the right thing to do?
ENGL 299 | Intro to English Studies
Dr. Myra Seaman | Spring 2017
I think the knight was influenced by the words of the hag. For starters, he had to stop and think about it before making his decsion. I feel like when people really want to do the right thing, they jump on it. But the this line says he sorrowfully sighs, “This knight aviseth him and sore siketh, But atte laste he seyde in this manere…”(1228-1229). Also, the knight is miserable throughout the whole tale. He is too ashamed to go into public with his wife because he cant bare the shame. So I don’t think he all of a sudden wanted to do the right thing, I think he definitely just wanted to change his situation. “My lady, and my love, and wif so deere, I put me in your wise governaunce.” (1230- 1231) To me the line suggests he is just telling her what she wants to hear. He has no other options or ideas that could help him get out of the situation he’s in, so it seems like a plausible explanation for his sudden submission.
I agree with Gabriella, I think that the knight was influenced by what the hag previously said. His response, specifically when he says on line 1235, “for as you liketh it suffiseth me”, it seems like the knight is mainly just trying to please the hag. If he honestly believed this was the right thing to do I think he would have responded by saying that. He would be more enthused with either outcome of the situation instead of seeming like he was just trying to go with the flow. It sounds like he is just trying to make the hag happy more than anything.
I honestly had not seen it the way that the previous two commenters did, but think it’s a very clever way to look at it. I definitely was confused by the knight’s sudden change in spirit, and the idea that he is doing it for his own gain makes a lot of sense. However, I still am confused, because from the very beginning of our introduction to him, he never seems to be a very thoughtful or even very intelligent man, so I can’t imagine what would make him think his decision through so carefully. I definitely look forward to discussing him more as a character in class, because his actions are very hard to explain in some cases.
I believe that the Knight told his wife to be what she wanted to be because she played him by using his want to be a true noble against him. She lead him to question what it means to be truly noble, not through family history or titles or riches but through the deeds that one does in both public and private. “Privee and apert, and moost entendeth ay To do th gentil dedes that he kan. Taak him for the grettest gentil man-” (1114-1116) Throughout the story and even still when he marries the hag, the most important thing to the knight is his nobility, and by calling the definition of true nobility according to the teachings of Christ the wife cleverly makes it so that the only choice the knight can make to be truly noble is doing the right thing and leaving her to choice what to be that would make her the happiest.