to take his power away to keep it that way. The Wyf and the queen are similar in the way they punish men. The queen sends the knight on an almost impossible task, which he must complete to keep his life and manhood. The Wyf enslaves her husbands, making them give in to her every word. During a male dominated time, she is stripping her husband of his manhood. She manipulates and blackmails them, by not having sex with them, or by making them think she is having an affair. Subsequently, they do what she wants.It is this manipulation that relates the Wyf of Bathe to the ugly woman’s character. The ugly woman gives the knight the answer to his question, with the condition that he does the one thing she asks of him. He agrees, but regrets it later when she tells him he must marry her. Repulsed, he asks the queen for help, but she orders him to follow the ugly woman’s directions. They get married, to his dismay, and he goes home unhappily. After a while, the ugly woman gives him a choice. She can make herself beautiful, but more susceptible to an affair, or stay ugly and faithful. When he sighs and tells her that the decision is hers to make, she knows she has taken control over him. She awards him by becoming beautiful and faithful. This manipulation is like the Wyf of Bathe’s because she gives only after she gets what she wants. The Wyf is ugly to her husbands until they give in to her control, and then, and only then, does she become beautiful and try to make them happy.The Canterbury Tales gives a historical view of the culture and people of the Middle Ages that historians miss. Although a fictional book, The Canterbury Tales provides insights into the lives and different professions of the people of that time. All the characters, but one, are corrupt or decayed spiritually and morally. The Wyf of Bathe, for example, is a feminist in the fourteenth century. She rebels against the expectations of females...
