Wife Of Bath – Rebellion against Authority
Within the lines 77-114 the Wife of Bath in her mock-sermon addresses the views of the Church and
men, those who were seen as authority figures at the time, on subjects such as virginity, chastity and
marriage. She rebels against authority figures by negating their beliefs and doctrines regarding how
women should be treated by men and society as well as rejecting the standards and expectations
placed on women, such as the opinion of the Church that women should remain virgins in order to
be considered pure as well Aristotle’s view that ‘silence is a woman’s glory’. She does this by glosing
religious texts and anti-feminist teachings. It is clear that she feels validated in doing so because it is
what the Church fathers did themselves in order to spread their views about women, for example
within lines 1-34 she points out that St. Jerome interprets the Wedding in Galilee to mean that men
should only marry once because Jesus only attended one wedding.
Furthermore, within the line 77-114 the Wife of Bath first rebels against authority by attacking the
legitimacy and power of the Church fathers of the time, such as St. Paul. On line 82 she notes that:
‘Al nys but conseil to virginitee’. Here the noun ‘council’ is especially important as it emphasises the
meaning of advice, through this the Wife of Bath is highlighting that whilst the Church fathers were
seen as figures of authority, they were not God and therefore their words and views should not be
seen as the law. This, at the time, would have been considered quite controversial as the Wife is
undermining the teachings of the Church and their view that women should remain virgins because
Mary was a virgin and she was seen to be the purest woman ever to exist, thus rebelling against
Church authority. Her rebellion continues when she directly uses God and St. Paul to counter the
Church’s views: ‘he yaf me leve of indulgence; so nys it no repreve’. The noun ‘indulgence’ perhaps
implies that either or both God and St. Paul gave her (and therefore it is implied women of the time)
permission for her to choose not to remain a virgin and to marry. The determiner ‘no’ followed by
the verb ‘repreve’ could mean that she believes that she should not be criticized for doing something
which both God and St. Paul has allowed her to do, this is considered to be a rebellion of the
teachings of the Church as they considered sex and remarriage to be a sin and only performed for
procreation and not for pleasure (the preferential state for widows like the Wife of Bath was a
chaste widow, meaning that through the act of remarriage the Wife actively rebelled against the
Church’s teachings).
Moreover, the Wife of Bath both rebels against authority whilst in some ways also affirms the
belief/views which she is rebelling against. She speaks of women who decide to remain in chastity:
‘Thogh maydenhede preferre bigamye/It liketh hem to be clene, body and goost’. The emphatic
placement of the noun ‘maydenhede’ before the noun ‘bigamye’ shows the Church’s view that
virginity was better and had precedence over remarriage and that women who remained virgins
would be ‘clene, body and goost’. The adjective ‘clene’ paired with the noun's ‘body’ and ‘goost’
again affirms the Church’s teachings that women who remained virgins would be considered to be
pure in body and spirit. However, she goes on to rebel against this authoritative teaching by saying:
‘a lord in his houshold /He nath nat every vessel al of gold;/Somme been of tree, and doon hir lord
servyse’. Here, through the juxtaposition between nouns, the Wife speaks of the gifts that God gives
to individuals, some ‘vessels’ (people) are made of ‘gold’, referring to those who are virgins and are
considered to be pure and valuable by the Church and some of ‘tree’, like the Wife of Bath who are
called to fulfil more natural and base instincts for their ‘lords’. Therefore, whilst she affirms that
women who remain chaste and virgins are pure and good, she in her actions and words rebels
against this notion by going on to say that: ‘God clepeth folk to hym in sondry wyse/And everich
hath of God a propre yifte’. The adverb ‘sondry’ here empasises the fact that God call
people/women to do different things, this is a rebellion of the Church’s attempts to reduce all
Within the lines 77-114 the Wife of Bath in her mock-sermon addresses the views of the Church and
men, those who were seen as authority figures at the time, on subjects such as virginity, chastity and
marriage. She rebels against authority figures by negating their beliefs and doctrines regarding how
women should be treated by men and society as well as rejecting the standards and expectations
placed on women, such as the opinion of the Church that women should remain virgins in order to
be considered pure as well Aristotle’s view that ‘silence is a woman’s glory’. She does this by glosing
religious texts and anti-feminist teachings. It is clear that she feels validated in doing so because it is
what the Church fathers did themselves in order to spread their views about women, for example
within lines 1-34 she points out that St. Jerome interprets the Wedding in Galilee to mean that men
should only marry once because Jesus only attended one wedding.
Furthermore, within the line 77-114 the Wife of Bath first rebels against authority by attacking the
legitimacy and power of the Church fathers of the time, such as St. Paul. On line 82 she notes that:
‘Al nys but conseil to virginitee’. Here the noun ‘council’ is especially important as it emphasises the
meaning of advice, through this the Wife of Bath is highlighting that whilst the Church fathers were
seen as figures of authority, they were not God and therefore their words and views should not be
seen as the law. This, at the time, would have been considered quite controversial as the Wife is
undermining the teachings of the Church and their view that women should remain virgins because
Mary was a virgin and she was seen to be the purest woman ever to exist, thus rebelling against
Church authority. Her rebellion continues when she directly uses God and St. Paul to counter the
Church’s views: ‘he yaf me leve of indulgence; so nys it no repreve’. The noun ‘indulgence’ perhaps
implies that either or both God and St. Paul gave her (and therefore it is implied women of the time)
permission for her to choose not to remain a virgin and to marry. The determiner ‘no’ followed by
the verb ‘repreve’ could mean that she believes that she should not be criticized for doing something
which both God and St. Paul has allowed her to do, this is considered to be a rebellion of the
teachings of the Church as they considered sex and remarriage to be a sin and only performed for
procreation and not for pleasure (the preferential state for widows like the Wife of Bath was a
chaste widow, meaning that through the act of remarriage the Wife actively rebelled against the
Church’s teachings).
Moreover, the Wife of Bath both rebels against authority whilst in some ways also affirms the
belief/views which she is rebelling against. She speaks of women who decide to remain in chastity:
‘Thogh maydenhede preferre bigamye/It liketh hem to be clene, body and goost’. The emphatic
placement of the noun ‘maydenhede’ before the noun ‘bigamye’ shows the Church’s view that
virginity was better and had precedence over remarriage and that women who remained virgins
would be ‘clene, body and goost’. The adjective ‘clene’ paired with the noun's ‘body’ and ‘goost’
again affirms the Church’s teachings that women who remained virgins would be considered to be
pure in body and spirit. However, she goes on to rebel against this authoritative teaching by saying:
‘a lord in his houshold /He nath nat every vessel al of gold;/Somme been of tree, and doon hir lord
servyse’. Here, through the juxtaposition between nouns, the Wife speaks of the gifts that God gives
to individuals, some ‘vessels’ (people) are made of ‘gold’, referring to those who are virgins and are
considered to be pure and valuable by the Church and some of ‘tree’, like the Wife of Bath who are
called to fulfil more natural and base instincts for their ‘lords’. Therefore, whilst she affirms that
women who remain chaste and virgins are pure and good, she in her actions and words rebels
against this notion by going on to say that: ‘God clepeth folk to hym in sondry wyse/And everich
hath of God a propre yifte’. The adverb ‘sondry’ here empasises the fact that God call
people/women to do different things, this is a rebellion of the Church’s attempts to reduce all
