Ah the tale told by the sweet old "gat-toothed" Wife of Bath. I found a few details particularly interesting about her both from the general prologue and her own lenghty preamble. The first is her "gat-toothed" description which denotes her as amorous. Its a nice changeup from the crudeness of the Miller and seems to be part of a logcal progression by Chaucer. From noble (Knight) to crude and drunken(Miller) to amorous. Another standout characteristic is her devout religiousness which, while it may not pervade her everyday actions, it certainly finds its way into her rhetoric. There are a number of biblical references in her prologue. The final interesting tidbit that stuck out to me was her five husbands. And the ironic peculiarity that the one who was cruelest to her was the one that she loved the most. This, of course, establishes the Wife of Bath's character and does an excellent job of setting up her story. These traits combine to make the Wife of Bath the least archetypical of the tale-tellers thus far. While the other characters have their peculiarities the Wife of Bath seems to be entirely composed of them.
The tale itself, set in a world of faeries and knights, provides a unique situation in which a man must give mastery over his life to a woman and finds that this results in the best possible outcome for everyone involved. The assertion that this tale is a Feminist one is arguable. At the very least, I would state that the Wife of Bath is an anti-anti-feminist. She doesnt exactly make demands for women in her society but she does address anti-feminist sentiments and writings. The ultimate conclusion, that a woman desires mastery in the relationship and that all benefit from it clearly conveys the Wife of Bath's fantasy and reflects her final marriage. Im looking forward to discussing this in class. See you there!