# The Wife of Bath — The Canterbury Tales character guide

> The Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0000-the-prologue

## Snapshot

A cloth-making widow who has buried five husbands and is hunting a sixth, she argues from scripture and experience that women want sovereignty over their own lives.

## Who they are

Bold, gap-toothed, and dressed in scarlet, she dominates the pilgrimage with her confessional prologue about the husbands she has managed and the one who finally let her have her way. Her tale of a knight who must discover what women most desire answers the question with a lesson about female self-rule and the gentleness that comes from virtue rather than noble blood. She matters because she turns the pilgrimage into a debate about marriage and authority, and no one who follows her can ignore the challenge she throws down.

## In the story

### [The Wife of Bath’s Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-wife-of-bath-s-tale)

Narrator of the tale, known for her views on marriage and female sovereignty.

### [The Prologue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-prologue)

Defends her multiple marriages and sexual agency, interrupts the Pardoner, and recounts her marital experiences.

### [The Wife of Bath's Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-tale)

The narrator of this tale, who speaks through the old woman's arguments about sovereignty and gentility.

### [The Prologue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-prologue)

The Friar addresses the Wife of Bath, praising her speech but suggesting they leave authorities for preaching and speak of game instead.

### [The Clerk's Tale of Griselda](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-tale)

Referenced in the envoy as a contrast to Griselda's patience, representing assertive wifely behavior.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/characters/wife_of_bath
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/characters