The Canterbury Tales: The Wif

The Wife of Bath vs. The Prioress The only two women described in great detail in The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, are the Prioress and the Wife of Bath. These two women appear similar in the General Prologue of the poem but, as we see through their tales, they are quite unique women and most importantly very different from one another. The initial similarity between these two women lies in their appearance but as …

…in their life experiences, and their manner and personality. The Wife of Bath is worldlier and has a great amount of experience with men and in business, whereas, the Prioress has lived a life that is primarily confined to the church. The resulting difference in personality is vast. The wife of bath acts with guilelessness and is blunt and manipulative where, on the other hand, the prioress acts phony but is truly polite and kind.