Canterbury Tales Description of the nun and the Wife of Bath
The Canterbury Tales: Description of the Nun and the Wife of Bath Of the twenty- nine pilgrims whom Geoffrey Chaucer joins for the journey to Canterbury, only three are women: the Prioress, the Second Nun and the Wife of Bath. All three tell a story, but in the General Prologue there are only portraits of the Prioress and the Wife of Bath. ... The women are seen in only two roles: the nun and the married woman. ... Thus the nun belongs to the people who pray and the Wife of Bath would find herself in the so- called fourth estate. ... I would like to take a closer look at the description of the two women . ... Her flair for dress makes her nun‘s habit stylish. ... The Wife of Bath The Wife of Bath comes "of biside Bathe" (I, 445). That means that she lives probably just outside the north gate of the city Bath. ... Finances are important in the description of the Wife of Bath. ... As a widow, the Wife of Bath should be dressed like one, instead she is dressed in a showy costume: heavy coverchiefs, red stockings, new shoes (I, 453-459).