Analysis of Politics in Geoffrey Chaucer's -The Wife of Bath

          Writing was an essential revolutionary tool to describe the era and try to express the realities of controversies such as religion, gender, and many other issues. During the Middle Ages there was a norm the pilgrims were made up of three social groups or “estates” nobility, church, and commoners (238). However, as explained by the Norton Anthology, during the late fourteenth century there was an introduction to a new growing middle class and that these three basic social roles became more “complex, interrelated, and unstable social strata among which birth, wealth, profession, and personal ability all played a part in determining one’s status in the world that was rapidly changing economically, politically, and socially (238). Basically, this shows the immensely changing culture that many writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer were a part of, and how they were able to expand on new avenues to explore the new ideas of social order and the changing from old to new beliefs specifically in social class and gender.

One of the authors that I feel expressed the conditions of the social order during the Middle Ages was Geoffrey Chaucer through his pilgrim narratives in his work, The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer seemed to be greatly affected by the transition of a new emerging social class, politics of marriage, and the expression of the church. Throughout the majority of his pilgrim’s prologues and narratives, Chaucer gives a satirical approach to addressing the issues with society; specifically, in The Wife Of Bath where he attacks the expected gender norms of society. However, we are given an introduction to the norms of social class in “The General Prologue,” where Chaucer introduces us to the pilgrims and the order they will tell their stories are based on rank and whoever held a higher rank would go first. For example, the importance of rank is illustrated when the teller said “Me thinketh it accordant to resound / To telle you al the condicioun/ Of eech of hem, so as it seemed to me, / And whiche they were, and of what degree, / And eek in what array that they were inne: /And at a knight thane wol I first biginne” (37-42.244). By going in the order of the social rank addressed .he showed the expression of the time and therefore he began with a knight because he was the highest rank in the room. But, Chaucer did deviate away from it when the stories were being told. For instance, the Miller in a drunken state interrupts the monk who was supposed to go after the Knight interrupting to tell his story about a cuckolded man; therefore, deviating away from the social rank that is expected during this time period. Although there were many specific social norms from the church, Chaucer seemed to address the controversies and tried to illustrate the realities of the social classes during the Middle Ages.

Although The General Prologue gave us an introduction, the story revolving about "The Wife of Bath" truly was influenced by the misogynistic ideology that was greatly influenced by the church and its view on women’s role in marriage and in society. Chaucer took the opportunity to address the realities and the freedom that a woman should enjoy as well as the man. The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale describes her five marriages and the control that she had on all of them. Although her last husband gave her more trouble than the other ones, she still appreciated her freedom to remarry and enjoy the pleasures of marriage. Her story expresses the general idea that “happy wife is a happy life” and by having “sovereienetee” (1044.305) to get what she wants and that is all women want in a marriage; some type of control. This satirical narrative allows the character to address the ridiculous stereotypes of women during this time period who were seen as evil but should remain virgins, while men were allowed to have any pleasure they wanted because they are seen as the dominant one in the relationship. The Wife of Bath exclaims that she has “Experience, though noon auctoritee / Were in this world, is right ynough for me / To speke of wo that is marriage:” (1-3.282). Basically she uses her experience with five husbands to describe the realities of marriage and deeming herself a reliable source to show the reality of marriage and shine light on the misogynistic world that has been preached for decades by the clerks. Describing her sexual freedom she shocks many of the pilgrims but explains her right to enjoy her sex like any man should. Therefore, this helps open the door to a less conservative view towards women and allowing more freedom.

Although she is reinforcing some of the stereotypes, she explores the ridiculousness of them as well. She shows how unfair it is for society to judge a woman and believe the stuff written by men because it has a bias source. Society basically goes off judging women based on what the church has said. The Wife of Bath even describes the inequality of these stereotypes by exclaiming, “By God, if women hadden written stories, / As clerke han within hir oratories, / They wolde han written of men more wickednesse / then al the merk of Adam redresse” (699-702.298). Essentially, if woman had the opportunity to express themselves and judge men equally, they would illustrate much more male wickedness then the men could try to defend and be able to redeem themselves. This story takes an opportunity to explore the reality of gender and marriage versus the one imposed by the church.

Overall, there are so many types of politics that influenced the work of Chaucer which he eventually addressed in his writing. Whether it was the politics of marriage, social class, or of religion, there is a great affect that the church created the division of classes, so being influenced by society’s norms he wrote satirically about the issues to express the controversy behind many of the expectations held by the Church.