What Women Want.

After reading the “Wife of Bath”, the only thing that comes to my mind is power. We have always heard how women throughout history are underestimated and considered less than men. The battle of power has always existed and we feel like we have to prove that we are equal. A simple example comes to mind. This summer I went to Cape Town and as you all should know or if you don’t I’ll tell you that over there you drive on the right side. My father was bored one day and did not want to leave the hotel but my mother and me wanted to go out. He told us it was best if we did not go because the driving was difficult, but still my mother busted out “do you think I am stupid? I am perfectly capable of driving on the right”. So we left the hotel and before driving two blocks we had crashed against the sidewalk. No one told my mom that she was not capable, still she had to go and prove that she could do it. The easy solution of the problem would be not to get married so we don’t have to fight the battle of power constantly. Then again why do we do it? What are we women looking for? Why did the wife of bath look for another husband when she left the first one, and then another after that one and another of that one? The answer is simple, we are looking for happiness but still that is really hard to get.

That is just a simple guess but King Arthur’s wife also wanted to know “what thing is that women most desire?” (905). So the story of “The Wife of Bath” begins, as a rapist is given the chance to answer the queens doubt in return of his life. He asks many women and always gets different answers. Some say money is all they care about, others sex and looks and some just want to be free. Not one of these women helps until he finds an old hideous woman that tells him she has the answers but will only give it to him if he does whatever she wants when he is saved. According to the old lady and the answer that the queen was hoping to get, is that “women desire to have sovereignty as well over her husband and her love, and to be in mastery above him”(1038-1040). The knight gets to keep his life and in return the old lady asks him to marry her. Surprised and disgusted the knight tells her she can have anything she wants but that. They get married and the old lady tells him he can have her ugly and loyal or young, beautiful and flirty. He lets her choosing because that answer of his gave her what she most desired, power. She then transforms into a beautiful woman and is always obedient to her husband.

More than the search for happiness or the power over ones husband,women look for
security and consideration. Why do you think the old lady became beautiful, because her husband let her choose. And why do you think the only husband that the wife really loved was the one that was with her at her others husband’s funeral. It does not matter to how many men you are married, or if you have more power in your relationship at the end what matters is if you are considered. It’s like a circle that begins with the search for happiness, then becomes the battle of power, and ends before it starts again, with whether they consider you or not.