The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath’s Tale Summary & Analysis

In the days of King Arthur, Britain was filled with fairies and elves, unlike now, when lecherous friars roam around the land. Although the friars rape women, just as incubi used to do in the days of fairies, women only lose their dishonor: the friars don’t make them pregnant.

A lusty young knight in Arthur’s court is riding through the forest when he spies a beautiful maid. Overcome with desire, he rapes her. The court is outraged, and according to law, the knight should be beheaded. But the queen and her ladies intervene to spare him, and King Arthur bows to his wife’s counsel. The queen tells the knight that if, in a year’s time, he can answer the question of what women want, his life will be spared.

The knight sets forth sorrowfully through the countryside and asks the question of every woman he meets. Everyone answers differently. Some say riches; some say honor; some, jolliness; lust; clothes; etc. Some say that women want to be free. Some say that women’s greatest desire is to be able to deceive and keep secrets. As proof of this last point, the Wife of Bath tells Ovid’s story of King Midas, whose ears were turned into ass’s ears. Midas begged his wife not to tell, but the secret burned inside her so much that she couldn’t bear it and she whispered it to the marsh water.

The day comes when the knight must return to court. As he is riding past the forest, he sees a group of women dancing and decides to ask them his question. But before he can come close, the dancers vanish, and only an ugly old woman remains. She asks him what his question is, and he promises to reward her if she can tell him what women want. The old woman says that she can help him, but he must pledge his life to her. The knight agrees, and she whispers a message in his ear.

The knight and the old woman go to court, where a large audience of the queen and her maids is assembled, waiting to hear the knight’s answer. He tells them that women desire sovereignty over their husbands and lovers. The women in the audience agree that this is the right answer, and his life is spared.

At that moment, the old woman comes forward and demands that the knight marry her. The knight recoils in horror, begging her to take his possessions instead of his body, but the old woman insists, and he is forced to wed and bed her, and the knight is miserable the whole time.

While they are in bed, the old woman asks the knight why he is so despondent, and the knight replies that he is repulsed by her “loothly” and “oold” appearance. The old woman reminds him that true gentleness and character are on the inside, not the outside. Sons of noble blood may be villainous; true poverty, she says, is in greed and longing for what you do not have.

The old woman gives the knight a choice. She can remain ugly but faithful and virtuous; or she can be beautiful, but he must take his chances that she may stray and cuckold him. The knight thinks for a while, then says that the choice is hers, thus granting her sovereignty.

Since the knight gives her the authority to choose for herself, the old woman says that she will be both beautiful and true. She tells him to kiss her, and when he does so, she transforms into a young woman, and they live happily ever after. The Wife of Bath concludes with a plea that Christ send all women meek, young, and fresh husbands who will not outlive their wives.