Challenging Typical Values
By challenging the value of virginity, the Wife of Bath call into question both secular and religous ideals of women. Both "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" and the "Wife of Bath's Tale," by Geoffrey Chaucer, presents females as clever and vvacious. This contradicted the typical fourteenth century values of women being submissive to men. "The Wife of Bath's Prolgue" is longer than her tale, and in the prologue, the Wife of BAth goes deep into description of herself. She speaks directly about her experiences as a wife to five men. Three of the five husbands have been old and rich, showing that the Wife of Bathh knew she must watch out for herself. The details about the fourth husband were skimmed over and the fifth husband, Johnny, is her favorite because he is the hardest to tame.