After the long prologue, the Wife of Bath starts her story and here is the explanation:

The Wife of Bath’s Tale Explanation

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The Wife of Bath’s Tale sets in the olden days of King Arthur whom everyone in Britain respects. The land is filled with supernatural creatures. The Elf Queen dances happily in the green meadow with her company.

This is what the books told what it was many hundred years ago. But now none sees such sight. The endless charity prayers of many friars and religious figures in every field where an elf used to walk and their visit to the halls, chambers, cities, castles, and everywhere have made the fairies move away.

As a result, women can move safely in the area without the feat of being encountered by demons. They are safe from demons but not from everyone. This is the tale of a lusty knight who has a nasty attitude toward women. 

One day, while the knight is riding from the river, he sees a maiden walking alone. He fails to control his lusty feelings and rapes her despite her pleas. This leads to a protest and complaint against the bachelor in front of the king. The court of law finds him guilty and condemns his pt death. But the Queen and other ladies pray for mercy on his behalf for a long time. King Arthur leaves the matter to the Queen and lets her decide whether to punish or pity him.

The Queen thanks the king and tells the knight that he has reached a point in his life where there is no hope. However, she can spare his life if he finds an answer to the question, 

If he cannot tell her now, she allows him twelve-month and a day to find out the answer and return to the court with it. The knight is sad about the decision but he has no option except to accept the Queen’s words.

Therefore, he leaves the court and goes on a quest to find the answer to the question. He visits every house in every place but does not find any satisfactory answer that everyone will agree. People have different opinions on it. These are wealth, honor, happiness, lust, wed, flattery, attention, freedom to do anything they like without getting criticism, etc. 

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Some say that great women want to be secretive. But the speaker denies it and brings up the story of Midas to support her statement. Midas has long hair and under his long hair, he has two ass ears. He hides his deformity from everyone. Therefore, none except his best and trusted wife is aware of his deformity. 

Despite his request to her to keep the secret and her swearing, she cannot keep it in her heart for long. She at last dashes to the nearby marsh, lays her mouth on the water down and reveals her husband’s secret to free herself from the burden of keeping it secret. The narrator asks the listeners to read Ovid to know the remainder of the story. 

In short, the knight does not find any definite answer. When the day comes to appear in court, he returns to the court with a heavy heart. On the way, he sees some ladies dancing in the woodland, He stops and decides to go to them with the hope of getting the answer.

As he approaches them, they vanish. Instead of them, he sees an old woman sitting on the green. She stands up and asks the night what he seeks and claims that she knows many things. He asks her his question and pleads for help. She agrees on one condition if he fulfills her wish in return. The knight agrees out of desperation.

She ensures him that his life is safe and confidently says that the Queen, even the proudest woman will not dare to challenge her answer. She whispers the answer to his ear and they head to the court. The knight declares that he has returned with his answer.

Many noble wives, maids, widows, and the Queen are present there to hear his answer. The court is silent and asks what he has found. He tells loudly, 

Their great desire is to have complete power over their partner. No woman in the court challenges what the knight says. He tells the Queen that he is ready to accept whatever decision she is going to take but he says he is worthy to have his life. 

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The old woman addresses the Queen and informs him that she has told the knight the answer on the condition that he will fulfill her desire, no matter what. She asks the knight to take her as his wife because she has saved his life, If he denies it, it would be a breaking of the promise.

It is a bolt from the blue when the knight hears her proposal and moans because he does not like her. The old woman tells him that she desires to be his wife. Hearing her, the knight rejects her love and laments that there would be no unlucky person who weds an old woman. 

He has no delight in marrying her because for him it is a matter of sorrow, However, he weds her with a heavy heart. In the night, he twists his body to and fro, suggesting his discomfort.

His wife smiles widely and asks if this is how a knight behaves with his wife in bed and if every knight of King Arthur is lazy like him. She reminds him that she is his wife and she is the one who has saved his life. She asks him why he is behaving reluctant on the first night. He seems like a man who has lost his mind, 

She asks him what her sin is. She promises to fix it if she can. The knight responds that she cannot alter her ugly face, old age, and low background. He feels so uneasy that he wishes his heart would burst in his chest. She inquires if these are the reasons for his distress. When he says yes, she replies that she can fix them in three days if he accepts her and treats her respectfully. She reminds him if he thinks by belonging to a wealthy family makes people noble then the nobility is worthless. He will find the greatest gentleness, in the virtuous man who does noblest deeds in private and public continuously.

Even though our ancestors leave wealth behind us but this is utterly meaningless if we do not learn virtues and their virtuous living style. The old woman cites a quote from Dante, the poet of Florence. Dante says that gentleness hardly comes from lineage. If it is a thing of inheritance everyone will be noble and there will be no vice.

She tells his noble man is not attracted to possessions, Hw who claims himself noble because of his lineage and his ancestors are noble. In reality, neither he nor his forefathers have done any noble deed. Committing sin or lack of noble deed makes a man mean even if he is a duke or an earl. Being born into a renowned family seems to make a man noble but it is not his quality, nobility comes from the grace of God. It is not inherited from power and status. Nobility does not come from ancestors rather it is a quality that reflects in one’s actions and truthfulness of character.

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She mentions Valerius who speaks of the nobility of Tullius Hostilius, who rises from poverty to high status. She suggests he read Seneca and Boethius. Both agree and express the view that noble deeds make a person noble, Therefore, she argues though she comes from a low background if God has granted her the grace to live virtuously, she is noble. 

She lives virtuously and avoids sin despite that he disapproves of her for her poverty. She points out that even Christ, Heaven’s King, lived a life of poverty. Poverty can be a state of virtue if a man lives honestly. This is what Seneca and other clerks have proved, the man who is satisfied with poverty is rich even if he lacks a shirt. On the other hand, those who yearn to possess wealth are poor because he has something that is not in their power to control. But he who does not crave wealth is rich even though people consider him a knave. Poverty brings contentment and happiness.

In this context, Juvenal says a poor can walk and sing happily beside a thief with no worry on his way because he has nothing to attract the thief. Though poverty is an unwanted state, it releases man from the burdens of business. When one accepts it with patience, it is something no one can snatch away. It often leads a man to God as he has no money, or wealth to care about and indulge in pleasure. This helps his path to God be clear and easy.

Poverty is a glass through which one can see his true friends because fake friends do not company a poor friend. The old woman says wince she wishes no grief to the knight, which makes her a noble person, She is asking him not to criticize her penniless state.

She addresses the next point which is her old age. He reprimands her for her age. Though books do not authoritatively say this topic, however, honorable men say that one should show respect to an old person. Since she is ugly and old, he has no fear of being a cuckold. Poverty and old age are the guardians of charity as they prevent a person from being unfaithful to their partner.

She shows her care for him and says she is aware of what he, as a young man, desires. Therefore, she promises to fulfill his worldly appetite. She asks him to choose either an old and ugly woman who is true, humble and never displeases her husband in her entire life or a young, fair woman and her husband has to bear that the visitors come to their house and other places to see her beauty.

The knight thinks deeply and replies with a sigh to her that he places himself under his wife’s control and guidance. He allows her to choose any option that will bring honor to them. Whatever she likes, that will be his decision. She asks him if she has won the mastery since she has complete control over him. He affirms that and she asks him to kiss her and leave their previous disagreement behind.

The old woman promises to be both true and good to him and if she fails, she prays to God to curse her to die mad. She promises if she does not become fair tomorrow as any lady, Empress, or Queen either from the East or west, he can take away her life. When the knight sees her young and lovely, he becomes joyful and hugs her. They share many kisses. She obeys him on every occasion which pleases him. Thus, they live in perfect joy.

At last, the old wife prays to Christ to bless everyone with a meek, physically active husband to make their marriage happier. She also prays to shorten the lives of those who refuse to be governed by their wives. She wishes those husbands who are old, angry, and complains over the expenses of their wife should be punished by God soon by a fatal epidemic.