Sixth Husband Of The Wife example essay topic

In the prologue and Tale of the Wife of Bath of Bath's in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales the Wife of Bath wants every possible thing a man can man can give her, and she probably doesn't exactly know what exactly she wants. The main things she wants is a husband that will satisfy her sexual desires, serve her to the best of his ability, will lay down the law in the home front, and is not a close follower of the scriptures. The Wife of Bath has a strong belief that she has been given a gift to dish out sexual pleasure, and the man in the relationship is responsible for giving the woman sex for all the things the woman does in the relationship. "In marriage I'll use my equipment as freely as my maker sent it. If I should be grudging, God give me sorrow" (Chaucer 189)!

Some have argued that the Wife of Bath is a feminist, and some have argued the opposite. In many cases, both sides can be argued: the Wife is adamant in having control over the man by withholding sex and other methods such as the one she used on her fourth husband-acting as if she was being unfaithful to him in order to return the favor. That gives the reader the idea of independency that could be considered actions of a feminist. I believe that one statement in the tale explains what she wants: "I'll have a husband-I won't make it difficult-who shall be both my debtor and my slave" (Chaucer 189).

This is one way of showing how the wife wants the best of both worlds, moreso than anything that has to do with feminism. Many feminists of the twentieth century would have thought that her way of gaining power as a woman, in fact, tears down women. Women in the 20th century believed that they should gain power through intellectual abilities and the ability to hold any type of job they want. Many believe that in actuality, the Wife gives a bad stereotype for women in using sex and other manipulative ways of gaining power. "Women most desire to have sovereignty over their husbands" (Chaucer page), this is what the Wife believes in, sovereignty. Another reason many people don't believe she is a true, twentieth century feminist is because she states several times in her tale that the man does deserve the pleasures he desires: Tell me also, to what end were reproductive organs made, why are people made so perfectly?

Believe me, they were not made for nothing... so that the clerics won't be angry with me, I'll say this: they were made for both; that is to say, for necessary business and for pleasure in engendering (Chaucer 189). She believes that men were given the power to have sex for both pleasure and for fertility. Given all these factors, the Wife believes in a give-and-take sexual relationship between the man and woman, but still shows how she will make the final decision on whether the man will get pleasure from her. So, in fact, the Knight is the perfect sixth husband for her: he has his back against the wall due to the fact that he wasn't sentenced for the usual punishment for rape, which is death. Since the wife has the control to do whatever she wants she is in the perfect relationship. However, the Knight has a very violent side to him and the wife self-admittedly likes for the man to take control and have his own strong hand in what happens as she demonstrated when she was hit by the fifth husband (and then loved him more than the other four).

The Wife shows at the end of the tale that she does in fact enjoy these characteristics of the Knight by giving him the perfect woman: young, beautiful, and faithful. The sixth husband of the Wife almost undoubtedly would have to cater to her every liking and serve her well as she suggest "and thus I can boast of one thing: in the end I got the better of them in every case, by trick, or force, or by some kind of method" (201). With the exception of the fifth husband, she used mind control and dictatorial strategy in order to "allow" them to stay in the relationship. The fifth husband was slightly different, but she laid the same type of guilt trip on him in order to gain the upper hand after he struck her deaf. The Knight, in fact, has no choice in the matter. The Wife should be able to control him and make him do whatever she wants and he will comply.

There are many reasons the knight will comply: he is an unintelligent person, he rushes into the deal that was brokered by the Queen without any thought about it and without realizing what exactly he will have to go through. He went ahead without inquiring about anything, but that was most likely because it was his only alternative. The reader could look at these factors about the Knight and say that he is rushing to save his life; but for what reason? Is he doing this selfishly because he wants to get out of a mess, or is it true regret for his actions? Will the Knight play along for a little while and then go back to his old ways since he has already been saved from death? These are all questions that need to be answered.

It is natural to doubt that the Knight will follow through with the actions he is supposed to do knowing his past. The Knight doesn't even seem to be grateful for the opportunity that has been given to him by the wife. He looks at the opportunity as an alternate punishment instead of a relief from the punishment he was supposed to have. The Knight continuously shows that he has no sincerity to the wife, even on the wedding night he half-wittingly pays attention to the Wife when she explains her "rules".

He rushed into the marriage without really caring what she was saying. All signs point to the Knight not following through with his obligations. Then the reader sees that he does care for the certain type of husband, and he sees what she is like and he "seized her in his two arms for joy, his heart was bathed in bliss; he kissed her a thousand times in a row" (Chaucer 239). This is the reason they live happily ever after: she wants to be beautiful again and he only wants a beautiful wife. But this may be exactly what the Wife wants. Her two favorite husbands (the fourth and fifth) were the most mischievous and she enjoyed them the most, even if they don't have the riches of the first three.

The Wife of Bath always looked for the newest, toughest challenge, and she seems to have found that challenge in the Knight. It is certain that if the Wife allows the Knight, he would have no problem being a powerful leader that will have much authority in the relationship. He will probably even assert authority if she doesn't let him. But this again is another gray area with the wife. Does she really want the knight to be authoritarian or does she want to play a game with him?

I believe that the wife wants him to be authoritarian in order to play her game. During her first three marriages, the Wife takes advantage of her husbands and they were not a challenge for her. She withheld sex from them to gain leverage on them, but the fourth and fifth husbands weren't so easy. She had to create new ways to have her power in the relationship-and she seemed to enjoy it, she made both very apologetic for what they had done to her.

She used lies to gain an advantage-particularly with her fourth husband as she explained, "when my fourth husband was on his bier, I wept, all the same, and acted sorrowful, as wives must, for it is customary, and covered my face with my handkerchief; but since I was provided with a mate, I wept but little, that I guarantee" (Chaucer 209). She didn't even have another mate but she thought he needed to think that she did so she would gain the upper hand. But the Wife almost contradicts herself on the subject of marriages by saying what God has told her, "but I was definitely told, not long ago, that since Christ went but once to a wedding, in Cana of Galilee, by that example he taught me that I should not be married more than once" (Chaucer 183). This leaves the question: why would she even state this if she is trying to make her case about her needing to be married several times? This is just all a part of her manipulative personality. Only lines later she said "thanks be to eternal God, I have had five husbands at the church door" (Chaucer 183).

As much as the Wife reads the Bible and blends the scriptures into her own views and theories there is no way a husband of her's could follow the scriptures faithfully. This again points back to the Knight: the Knight is definitely not a moral man and probably only has passing knowledge of the Bible, or at least interprets it to fit the way he wants it to-like the Wife. In closing, the Wife is not sure what she wants, but there are some factors that she definitely has to have in a man. She must have a husband who will satisfy her sexual desires, serve her to the best of his ability, will lay down the law at the home, and is not a close follower of the scriptures.

The Knight becomes the perfect match for this which undoubtedly created an odd relationship between two odd people and they live happily in marriage for the rest of their lives because of their compatibility. These two were brought together by their faults and it creates the perfect relationship.