The+wife+of+Bath-The+Canterbury+Tales

The Canterbury Tales

=THE WIFE OF BATH = **The Wife of Bath is not beautiful, but forceful and energetic. Her bright clothes and elaborate head-dress ("cover chiefs") are showy rather than elegant: her hat is as broad as a "buckler" (a buckler or small shield). Her clothes are of good quality "fun scarlet reed" and her shoes are "moister and new": the effect is perhaps to advertise her and her wealth, rather than attempt uncharacteristic elegance.**

===Of her life we are told that 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. This is rather surprising, but seems less so when (in her prologue) we learn that three of the husbands were old men. 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. : The effect is perhaps to advertise her and her wealth, rather than attempt uncharacteristic elegance. ===

===Of her life we are told that 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. This is rather surprising, but seems less so when (in her prologue) we learn that three of the husbands were old men. ===

===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. === THE WIFE OF BATH //A worthy woman from beside Bath city //

// was with us, somewhat deaf, which was a pity. //

// In making cloth she showed so great a bent //

// she bettered those of Ypres and of Ghent. //

// In all the parish not a dame dared stir //

// towards the altar steps in front of her. //

// And if indeed they did, so wrath was she //

// as to be quite put out of charity. //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Her kerchiefs were of finely woven ground, //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> I dared have sworn they weighed a good ten pound //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> the ones she wore on Sunday, on her head. //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Her hose were of the finest scarlet red //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> and gartered tight; her shoes were soft and new. //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Bold was her face, handsome and red in hue. //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> A worthy woman all her life, what's more //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> she's had five husbands, all at the church door, //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> apart from other company in youth; //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> no need just now to speak of that, forsooth. //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> And she had thrice been to Jerusalem, //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> seen many strange rivers and passed over them; //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> she's been to Rome and also to Boulogne, //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> St James of Compostella and Cologne, //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> and she was skilled in wandering by th way. //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> She had gap-teeth, set widely, truth to say. //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Easily on an ambling horse she sat //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> well wimpled up, and on her head a hat //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> as broad as is a buckler or a shield; //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> she had a flowing mantle that concealed //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> large hips, her heels spurred sharply under that, //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> in company she liked to laugh and chat //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> and knew the remedies for love's mischances, //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> an art in which she knew the oldest dances. //