150 posts and the wife of Bath

This is post number 150, eeeeeh!

You asked about the Wife of Bath so, here it is.

Chaucer describes her in his prologue:

A good wife there was, from near Bath,
But she was somewhat deaf, and that was too bad.
Of clothmaking she had such a talent,
She surpassed that Ypres of Ghent.
[...]
Bold was her face, and fair and red of hue.
She was a worthy woman all her life:
Husbands at church door she'd five,
Not counting other company in youth-
but we need not speak of them right now-
A thrice had she been to Jerusalem.
She had crossed many a foreign stream:
To Rome she had been, and to Boulogne,
In Galicia to Saint James, and to Cologne;
She knew much of wandering along the road.
Gap-toothed she was, the truth to say.
Upon an easyriding horse she easily sat,
Wimpled well, and on her head a hat
as broad as is a buckler or a targe;
An overskirt about her hips large,
And on her feet a pair of spurs sharp.
She was full of laughter and of gossip.
Of love remedies she knew by chance,
For she knew the steps of that old dance.



The Wife of Bath belongs to the Canterbury Tales written by Chaucer in the 14th century. In the tales, Chaucer, was going to Canterbury and he meets these people in an inn. So, one night, as far as I remember, all of them tell stories. Stories that correspond to their personalities. The wife of bath tells a story of a man that in order to save his life has to solve a riddle: What do women want? An ugly lady offers to help him if he marries her. And if you want to know what happens next read the story. Many people considers her story quiet simple compared to her prologue because in it she tells her life. A quiet interesting life.

I guess she knew what she wanted. And she has other qualities that I admire, haha. Some feminist consider her an early feminist. She moves by herself in that male world. Nice.