The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

The Wife of Bath has had five husbands, which is different compared to the rest of the stories and lais we have read. The Marie de France lais most of the time have a woman who wants to, or actually does, commit adultery on her husband. The Wife of Bath justifies having had so many husbands by claiming that Christ never taught people should only be married once. I find this interesting and sort of characteristic of evolution. What's different though is that men are normally the ones to have sex with more women because of the theory of evolution. Men are supposed to "spread their seed" as much as they can to carry out the family name. In this case she's the one having sex with more men.

In all The Wife of Bath takes scripture in the bible which she likely heard by mouth (since reading the bible was illegal) in which she twists the readings to her favor and doesn’t know the true meaning of the things she talks about, in reference to marriage and sex. She was withholding sex from the three "good" husbands so she could still continue to get what she wanted from them. By accusing her husbands of adultery, she was able to cover up her own. A fight erupts between the wife and Jankin, which ended in Jankin begging for her forgiveness and once again she got what she wanted.

The Wife of Bath uses the prologue as an introduction to explain what women want the most; control, especially over their husbands. In the explaining of the prologue she explains how she had complete control over her husbands through manipulation. She feels she can speak with authority and confidence because she has experienced this herself.