The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale

The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale  – The Wife of Bath (Alisoun) delivers a lengthy “preamble” that is nearly twice as long as her actual tale, using her life as evidence that experience is a better authority than book-learning.

The only one she married for love, though he was abusive and read from a “Book of Wicked Wives”. After a violent fight where she was struck deaf in one ear, they reached harmony when he surrendered “sovereignty” to her.