SOCIETY AND THE WoB

Society probably viewed the WOB as "bad", but she really wasn't.  Chaucer didn't make her look bad, either!  He just wrote about her (from her own point of view) as she was.  Society at the time portrayed the Wife of Bath as a "bad" wife, person, or woman and Chaucer emphasized this in her prologue and tale, but never meant to portray her as a "bad" person from his point of view.

Chaucer even supports her in the general prologue as being a "worthy womman all her live." (Line A459)  and validates that she was married legally and religiously to her husbands "(Housbondes at chirche dore she hadde five", Line A460).

Even though it seemed as if she controlled her husbands, she would not have gotten that power if it were not for her husbands.  Back then, society viewed men as the ones who held the power, hence her marriage "sith I [she] twelve yeer was of age" (Line 4).  She would not have had a say in if she really wanted to marry this man or not, first of all, because she was a woman, and second of all, because she was very young in age.

In the WOB's case, she is portrayed as the powerful partner in her later marriages.  Even though the power echoed in lines 219-23 ("I goverend hem so well, after my lawe,/That ech of hem ful blisful was and fawe/To bring me gay thinges fro the faire./They were ful glad whan I spak to hem faire./For, Got it woot, I chidde him spitously.") is more childish in nature, she got her husband's attention and they followed up by giving her attention.

I think that it seems like she's portrayed as "bad" because society could not accept the fact that she was a strong, powerful, free-willed woman, even though she was married (so not that free, but you know what I mean.)  And from the lines from the text seen above, society must have disapproved of her by her wants and needs in such a demanding form. 

Society shapes the way we look at others, which is such a disgrace.  In this case, the WoB was looked at in a harsh light, speculated and totally different to the "model" form of how a wife should be at the time.  In the WoB's Tale, the old woman is not exactly what we would call the exact model form of a wife (i.e. her 'ugliness' was not keenly looked upon), but she is old -- and according to the tale, "'Thise odle folk kan muchel thing,' quod she" (Line 1004).  Here, the knight seeks out to the old woman for advice for his "quest."   He lets the older woman guide him and lead him into the right answer.  But wouldn't it have been odd in real life at the time that a man would listen to a woman for advice?  Wasn't the woman supposed to take orders and listen to her husband's advice, and not vice versa?  This part in the tale reflects the WoB's life, and her free-willed nature in her marriages.