The Canterbury Tales

One feminist idea within The Wife of Bath's tale is that women could control men. The Wife of Bath uses her sexual power to control her husbands. She is also able to control them through the lies that she tells. If one of her husbands was drunk, she would make him feel guilty by claiming that he said something terrible. He would therefor give her what she wanted. This feminist idea can be contrasted with the common Medieval idea that women were inferior to men, and that husbands controlled their wives. Another idea concerning women within the tale is that women are sinful. The Wife's sinfulness can be seen when she lies, purposefully makes her husbands jealous, marries men for money, and hits her fifth husband. This idea towards women was very common in the Middle Ages. Men believed women were sinful, disorderly, and caused men to sin.

The Medieval ideal of courtly love is demonstrated by the love between Alisoun and Nicholas. Their love is very passionate and can be associated with the chivalry of the time period. They want to be together because they love each other, not because the relationship was arranged as was common before the Middle Ages. In fact, the two fall in love despite Alisoun being already married. Another Medieval ideal that is seen in this tale is that of Christianity. This is demonstrated when Nicholas tells John that he has had a vision from God. John sees the importance of a vision from God and agrees to do what God has "commanded." If John was not a Christian, then he would not have cared what God had supposedly revealed to Nicholas. Christianity was very common in this time period, therefor the audience also would have understood and accepted why John listened to Nicholas.