The Pardoners Tale
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The Wife of Bath and the Pardoners Tale
The Wife of Bath is a very interesting woman, her views on life and god are true to her heart and it doesnt bother her if people dont agree. She has been through a lot of marriages and was married at the age of twelve. The Pardoner is a very important factor in the church during his time. He mainly goes out and collects payments for the church, and pockets some of it on the side. This is extremely dishonest especially for a church official. He is just that type of person though, very dishonest and tricky. Both of this people tell their tales and both of their tales suit their type of personality.
The Wife of Baths stories are directly related to the type of person that she is. She says “who shall be both my debtor and my slave.” This statement shows that her main objective in a marriage is to control every aspect of living in a relationship. Throughout the story she tells, it is made evident that the old hag is in total control of the relationship. “and swear to do whatever I shall next require of you.” After that statement the knight agrees, from then on he is bound to this forever. The story shows that even though back in those times, men had the upper hand in most of the relationships, it was still possible for women to use their god given abilities to get what they want.
“Wommen desiren to have sovereyntee
As wel over hir housbond as hir love,
And for to been in maistrie hym above.”
Even the answer to the question that the queen asks shows how her story is one sided in favor of the women.
The Wife of Bath was an expert in marriage and the story suites her, she is a prime example of what we would call today a “gold digger”.
The Pardoner is one of