on of the old crone. The fairy-tale structure also exists when he kisses the old woman to turn her young. This Tale also has fable qualities because of the moral at the end of the Tale. The Wife of Bath ends the Tale with its moral: let Christ grant all women submissive husbands who sexually satisfy their wives. This tale shows the old crone’s newfound beauty as a result of her independence and a physical display of her internal qualities. The theme of the Wife of Bath’s Tale is not female equality in marriage, but the power struggles between the husband and wife. She does not seek an equal partnership with a husband, but a situation in which she has control over her spouse. The Wife of Bath even indicates that it is only in a marriage where the wife has control over her husband, that true happiness can be attained. An example of this occurs when Jankin tries to show power over her and to reestablish her dominance she controls him through guilt. From this point, the Wife of Bath was the dominant partner in the marriage. The source of this Tale is Jerome’s Adversus Jovinianum (Against Jovinian), in other words, pro-virginity. The following sections of Against Jovinian are used as sources for this Tale: Chastity Among Pagan Women, Theophrastus’ “Golden Book of Marriage”, and Why Men Should Not Marry. Another source of this Tale is the Bible. The sections in the Bible that are used as sources for this Tale are The Creation of Woman (Gen 1-2), Gabriel Speaks to Mary (Luke 1), Mary Magdalene Washes Christ’s Feet (Luke 7), Laws for Sexual Conduct (I Cor), Laws for Marriage (Ephesians 5), Women’s Silence in Church (I Cor 14), Rules for and about Women (I Timothy), No Gender in Christianity (Galatians 3), and The Song of Songs. The satire that exists in this Tale is satire of the sexes. When the Wife of Bath speaks in the prologue, she mocks the feministic qualities of modern-day ...
