Wife of Baths Prologue and Tale Literature Explain how Chaucer’s portrayal of the Wife of Bath supports the long tradition of misogynistic or anti-feminist literature that presents women as morally corrupt and lustful.
That there is plenty of ‘auctoritee’ in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue , as promised in the first line, is not a feature likely to enthuse most modern readers. Chaucer, in fact, makes sure that her opening discussions as to the value of marriage itself rarely rise to the level of serious argument; indeed there are numerous examples of humour in the way in which the Wife deploys her references and comments on them, but also many long passages which are essentially a patchwork of scriptural allusions.
