Freedom’s Burden

In the Prologue and Tale of the Wife of Bath a single idea repeats itself through both of them. This idea appeared due to the oppression of women during that time or at least presents such a sharp dichotomy with their status of repression and submission that it has to relate to that. This idea portrays a very strong feminism which the following quotation explains to its fullest:

“1038 "Wommen desiren to have sovereynetee
1039 As wel over hir housbond as hir love,
1040 And for to been in maistrie hym above.”

In the Tale we see this as an ideal to reach and in the prologue it appears as the results of acquiring such freedom and power. Such an ideal appears takes particular importance since the Wife of Bath based her entire way of living upon this. She took control of all her relationships but this came with several problems. These appeared due to her application of such idealism. They based on her need to maintain this power in order to remain happy. This happened the first time when she reached her final husband and he didn’t allow her to take absolute control. Every human has a desire for power but basing one’s happiness on it, like she did, will without a doubt make such happiness unstable. For someone to have so much power over another like her will have great effects on both the subject and the ruler. She became addicted to it and became very good at obtaining what she wanted. Meanwhile her husband’s weren’t necessarily agreeable with her like the last one but the majority of the time she outlived her subjects. In the end, her source of happiness has the single fault of being based on another person. Even if that other person can be replaced, she will be alone at some point and therefore she will be unhappy at some point. Can such power truly be a positive source of happiness for women (or anyone) as she attempts to show in her tale and prologue?

Anyhow, attaining power doesn’t necessarily mean that she tries to obtain happiness through it. With that she would be able to obtain an extensive amount of freedom, really rare for her time period. That freedom which appears to be the most sublime of desires a woman can attain, could mean a burden she doesn’t necessarily take into account when her hunger for freedom reaches its peak. We see an example of this at the end of the tale where the old woman asks the knight to choose. He then decides to give his own freedom to the woman like this:

“1230 "My lady and my love, and wyf so deere,
1231 I put me in youre wise governance;
1232 Cheseth youreself which may be moost plesance
1233 And moost honour to yow and me also.
1234 I do no fors the wheither of the two,
1235 For as yow liketh, it suffiseth me."”

At that moment the woman receives the knight’s freedom and she becomes partially responsible for his wellbeing. Even if the knight, having chosen to give his freedom, will have to bear with his decision, she, being the one that decides, now carries the responsibility for both of their futures. Although the decision the woman took in that case was probably the correct one, (or at least one in which both found happiness) can that feeling of freedom suffice to compensate for carrying the weight of their decisions? Having freedom empowers us and allows us to make our own future which many find to be positive. Still, the responsibility for our own actions can be enough to break a person. Can you imagine having to carry the responsibility of taking decisions for others? Only a psychopath would not care if he hurt another person by doing this.

The freedom these tales advocate does show a possibility for pain and suffering. Even the Wife of Bath has not achieved happiness this way because her husband does not give her the absolute freedom she needs. This tale reflects a good ideal that one must apply in moderation. Everyone should have a right to choose but going as far as choosing for others proves to be excessive especially for those that decide. Still, such an unchangeable society required an extreme ideal such as that one to promote any kind of change. Although it seems extreme for us now, it was necessary at the time to exemplify a freedom for women. A freedom that was unseen until very recently.