Wife of Baths Tale Essay Example

the general prologue. In response, the similar issues; this vivid sketch is one of the most striking in the General Prologue. We learn of the Wife's physical appearance, her dress, her way of life and her character, while Chaucer introduces hints he intends to amplify later in the narrative.

Although editions of the Wife's prologue and tale will usually contain the portrait from the General Prologue, in the work as Chaucer intended it to be in its finished state, the portrait would be separated from the Wife's speaking by at least (as in Robinson's edition) five complete tales, with prologues and linking narratives. Thus details are mentioned in the portrait but left unexplained until much later. The Wife is not beautiful, but forceful and vivacious. Her bright clothes and elaborate head-dress "coverchiefs") are ostentatious rather than elegant: her hat is as broad as a "bokeler" (a buckler or small shield).

Her clothes are of good quality "fyn scarlet reed" and her shoes are "moiste and newe": the effect is perhaps to advertise herself and her wealth, rather than attempt uncharacteristic finesse. Of her life we are told that, “apart from "oother compaignye in youthe"(Line 471), she has had five husbands, a revelation of which we certainly wish to know more. This means, of course, that she has been five times widowed (no divorce for women in 14th century England).Her habit of going on pilgrimages suggests a devout woman, but her real reasons for such travel are a love of adventure, and the social opportunities these trips bring. As in the present case, most pilgrims are men (and the few other women present are nuns). One of

them might be the next husband for whom she is looking out! The last part of the description tells us of her social skills, especially her knowledge of "remedies of love", an "art" which she well understands.

Irony is a form of speech in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the words used. In the prologue of the Wife of Bath,