The Wife (canterbury Tales)

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first began by sharing her feelings, then told her story to back her thoughts.
One of the main characters from each tale is put to a test of their patience and subordination to the opposite sex. In the "Wife of Bath" the knight is allowed to choose the appearance of his wife; either she become beautiful and unfaithful or remain old, and noble. The knight has been taught that it is the women's decision to choose her appearance. He makes the right decision by letting her be in control, he told her "you make the choice, yourself…whatever pleases you suffices me"(291). In turn the knight is rewarded, for his realization of what his wife and women truly desire, by his wife.
In the "Clerk's Tale" Griselda suffers through a great deal of emotional pain in her husband's test of loyalty and patience. The marquis knew his wife was loyal but "longed to expose her constancy to test"(333). He went to such an extent to take away her kids and discard her as a wife, all to discover if ...

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husbands. In the tale the clerk tells, it is mentioned that the noble marquis suffers from one fault. "He could not be prevailed upon to marry"(323), his unwillingness to wed was viewed as a negative trait. The marquis wasn't interested in marriage yet because he had not fallen in love with anyone. One of his subjects described marriage as being "a kingdom, not a slavery"(323), that is a blessed event not one to be dreaded. However the marquis believes that happiness "and marriage seldom go together"(324). At the end of this tale he is proved wrong and discovers that marriage is a positive experience. It is even more delightful when it is with a person that you can trust and love ...

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