Chaucer,_And_Authority

Chaucer, And Authority “The Canterbury Tales” & Authority In Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” the authority handed down from The Wife of Bath is a guideline for authority in all relationships. The Wife of Bath tells of her vast experience with relationships, and the manipulation of her husbands. She expresses her last husband was firm, but fair. The Wife of Bath also acknowledges her own stubbornness “Stubborn I was as is a lioness,/ And with my tongue a very jay, I guess...” (pg. 118) and that she did not always act as she should towards her husband. In The Wife of Bath’s tale, The Old Women is a model wife. She wishes to please her new husband, and offers him the ultimatum to have her has an ugly, but faithful wife, or to have a beautiful wife who would make him a cuckold. Her heart is in the right place, and she holds no grudge against a man who obviously does not like her appearance, and has not yet shown respect to her or other women. When the Knight submits to his wife, she becomes the best of both worlds. The Wife of Bath uses this to stress her moral “And I wife, bath, women, husband, relationships, men, wives, wise, should, pg, own, need, love, husbands, herself, authority, wishes, talks, tales, tale, since, please, past, offers, make, good, firm, fifth, experience, dominant, controlling, canterbury, bath’s, about, in