In the Canterbury tales The Wife of Bath Chaucer is presenting a women's view
             of the reality in the 14th century. The Wife of Bath's Tale is told by the character named Alison who explains the tricks of her trade and defends a life style that might be shocking if it were not presented with such energy and humor. The Wife of Bath's Tale is spoken by a woman of exceeding experience with husbands, with strong opinions on how married life should be
             conducted. The open discussion about women's views about love and lust makes this prologue a revolutionary document.
             The Wife has multiple marriages: "...Five husbands have I had at the church door." (p183) She emphasizes that out of the five three were old and rich and two young and wild. The older ones, she says, were good because she could bring them under her control through her tirades against the ways women are treated. Further, once they had passed on she had more love to give but moreover she required more love. She does not believe in monogamy in fact she believes that people can love and marry more than one person in their lifetime "Welcome the sixth, whenever he comes along."(p.185)
             Chaucer is able to undermine the traditional medieval view, sanctioned by the church fathers and by common law, that wives should be humble, obedient, and submissive to their husbands in all things by giving Alison the power over all of their husbands. Chaucer also shows that Alison is a sexual being. Alison does not get married to seek protection under the wing of the husband; She gets married to that "In marriage I'll use my equipment as freely as my maker sent it"(p.189), at a time when ideally women left the initiative to men. Her marriages do not stop her from looking for love at all the other places. She openly talks about her affairs. She is out there to feed her appetite for fleshy pleasures. It seems that love is of little interest to her. It seems that love is not ...