Comparison between The Prioress and Wife of Bath

Authors Avatar by mbloach (student)

The Canterbury Tales is exactly what its title states. It's a tale about a group of men and women, some devout Christians, some corrupted to the core, who depart on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, under the guidance of the Host of the Tabard Inn.In The General Prologue, Chaucer introduces each of the twenty-nine characters of The Canterbury Tales. Within this group, there are two women that draw particular attention. The first woman is a Prioress and second is the "Wife from beside Bath"  who is partially deaf. The Prioress, being the head of a convent, is a religious woman and, apart from her accompanying nun, the wife of bath is the only other female pilgrim.  Although these women might have  similarities that are evident in the story, deeper down, the Wife of Bath and the Nun's Prioress are two completely different characters.

The prioress and wife of bath  belong to two different social classes. They represent two extremes of life, one that is totally religious and other totally worldly. The Prioress belongs to the withdrawn life of prayer and god, vowed to poverty and chastity and indifferent to the vanities of the world. Strictly speaking, she should not have been on this pilgrimage at all  because of her vows and the Prioress also keeps pet dogs and exposes her forehead which should have been veiled if I know nuns and the way they are supposed to dress correctly. On the other hand,  the second woman pilgrim who is fully described in the Prologue belongs to the middleclass world of trade. In  her occupation the Wife of Bath has done well and left other traders behind “                    “ . Her uniqueness lies in her personality. In her red-stocking, her vast hat she is a glaring contrast to the genteel over-refined Prioress. As the opening sentence of the Prologue shows, a pilgrimage was often an excuse of indulging in a love of adventure and uninterrupted gossip and it is hard to see the Wife of Bath as devout. She is, in fact, aggressive and seems determined to dominate.

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The Prioress has an attractive  smile but this should not have been the first thing about her to attract attention. These un-prioress like attributes persists and seemingly make her seem fake. Her other characteristics ,-such as her nasal singing , her French education , her eating habits, her courtly manners and her longing to be regarded as a fine lady , are all not associated with a Prioress. Chaucer mentions the motto on her brooch, “Love conquers all”, which refers to something other than it’s supposed to in her case. The Wife of Bath, in fact, conforms to the ...

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