Canterbury Tales Essay - Comparing The Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

The Wife of Bath  Similarities Between the Prologue and the Tale       In The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath seems to be one of the much vivacious characters on the pilgrimage.  boo Alice has radical views about women and marriage in a time when women were expected to be passive toward men.  There atomic number 18 many things consistent amongst The Wife of Baths prologue and her bilgewater.  The most apparent similarities that clear depict the comparison between the prologue and the tale are dominance of two(prenominal) women over their husbands, the duplication of appearance between the aged(prenominal) hag and raspberry Alice and finally the reality is that the fifth husband and the knight are real alike in personality.  Although there are some contrasts amid the prologue and the tale, the resemblance outlying(prenominal) outweigh them.             &nbs p           To commence, The Wife of Bath, Dame Alice, is dominant over all atomic number 23 of her husbands and although she struggles with her fifth husband to gain the upper expire in the marriage, Dame Alice nevertheless in the end accomplishes her initial intention.  Dame Alice seems to be solo authentically happy when she has mastery over her husbands.  They have to willingly hand over this power, consciously or unconsciously,  because without their consent she has a battle on her hands, both challenging the other for ultimate superiority in the relationship.   The over-the-hill hag, likewise, gains control over her husband when the knight places her in the governing  congeal and yet again as seen in the Wife of Baths Prologue, the knight must(prenominal) consent to give up this power in order for the old hag to acquire it, for if he had not given her control of the partnership, both would have continued unh appily.             Subsequently, a second relationship between the prologue and the tale is the description of  both the old hag and the Wife of Bath, at least(prenominal) physically concerned.   The Wife of Bath describes herself as old and lethargic, But age, allas, that al wol envenime, Hath me biraft my beautee and my pith. (Chaucer aura 481-482).  Although the physical description of Dame  Alice is not as unpleasant as the portrait of the old adult female, there is notable mimicry between the two women.  The old woman is described by the knight as, A fouler wight ther may no man devise. (Chaucer line 1005), the old woman also quotes him later as saying she was foul and old (Chaucer line 1219).