The Men of Bath’s Tale
The “Wife of Bath’s Tale” is a work of misogynistic mayhem. The king is self absorbed and thinks only of his own reputation, women are treated as lower beings no matter what their rank in society, and the knight commits a terrible sin and somehow still comes out on top. This story of unjust justice, womanizing, and unequal treatment takes place in the dark ages. The dark ages were a time of Christianity in England. In the dark ages the king is ruler of the land, along with his wife the queen, and knights are considered the right hand men of the king.
The king is selfish and only thinks of his own reputation. The king is the highest ranking member of society in the dark ages, he is thought to be a noble leader who does all he can for his country and will do only what is best thing for his people. The king has a status to uphold as a strict but understanding leader with courageous knights who fight for their fellow country man. Yet the knight in the story disgraces his country with disorderly conduct and an evil deed done unto a fair young madden. The king’s knights were looked upon as brave, respectful, and extremely honorable. All of their actions reflected on back onto the king in which they served. The king in this story cared not for the madden who had been raped, but only that one of his knights had committed the unspeakable crime. The king was so out raged that the knight, a man looked up to by all had committed such a sin. The king wanted to knights head cut off for such an embarrassing act, but the king wanted the punishment for all the wrong reasons.
The women in this story are treated as lower beings. The queen herself and a few of her servants had to beg the king to let the queen make the decision about the knight’s punishment. The queen of a country actually had to BEG for her husband to let her sentence out a punishment. A marriage is a partnership where no one is truly higher than the other but not in this tale, the...