Monthly Archives: October 2013

As I discussed in my last blog post, I absolutely love the Wife of Bath, and this got me thinking of my recent trip to Bath, England. I figured I would share a couple of images from my trip. I hope you enjoy!

I personally have really enjoyed reading the Canterbury Tales, specifically the Prologue of the Wife of Bath.  Why? Simply because I have grown rather fond of the Wife. She is an amazingly funny character. I love how absolutely blunt she is about… everything. As I was reading her story of herself disguised as the prologue to her tale, I just could not believe that Chaucer had the guts to create this woman, for certainly she was a woman who would have been scorned in Medieval society…right? The Wife just seems so completely modern. She demands respect, authority and beyond that, she is given both! Additionally, The Wife is very crass, which is not how I’ve ever imagined women of this time to be, I’ve always assumed that the society of the time was to oppressive for anyone to be crass, let alone a woman. Yet here is this character, whom I am assuming may have been modeled after someone Chaucer actually knew, who is more than willing to tell you every single thing that’s on her mind: the good, the bad and the ugly. She is educated, well-read and well- traveled. She takes the circumstances she is in and she dominates them, making her life her own…and this is remarkable for the time.