Gillian Kenny

What the Wife of Bath teaches us about misogyny

The lovable rounded character of The Canterbury Tales has been ridiculed over the centuries for her sexual appetites, completely subverting Chaucer’s focus

The Wife of Bath, as she appears in the Ellesmere Manuscript of The Canterbury Tales. [Bridgeman Images]
  • Comments

  • The Wife of Bath: A Biography

    Marion Turner

    Princeton, pp. 296, £20

  • The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society

    Eleanor Janega

    W.W. Norton, pp. 320, £23

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading for free

Subscribe today to get 3 months’ free digital access.

  • Unlimited access to our website and app
  • Enjoy Spectator newsletters and podcasts
  • Explore our online archive, going back to 1828
  • Plus, three months’ free digital access to the Telegraph

Read next

Trending

Sam Leith

Keir Starmer and his wife don’t need a personal shopper

Sam Leith
Well, colour me disappointed. I was among those – mugs, the uncharitable will be quick to call them – who imagined that Sir Keir Starmer represented the arrival of a welcome period of dull, unshowy decency at the top of our politics. I thought that whatever else he did – disappointed the left; enraged the right; made ‘hard decisions’ that nobody liked – it would

Also in Book Reviews

Latest

Comments

Join the debate for free — this month only

This month, be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for free. We’ll also give you three months’ free digital access to the Telegraph.

Already a subscriber? Log in