The General Prologue compares and contrasts The Prioress and The Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer introduces twenty-nine characters in the prologue. The Prioress is the head of a convent and a religious woman. Apart from her accompanying nun, the Wife of Bath is the only other female pilgrim. The Prioress’s decision to go on pilgrimage is a transgression as the bishops forbade it. Therefore, her appearance in the prologue suggests that she is not wholly committed to her cause.
The Wife of Bath, by contrast, as a free woman of business, had every right to attend. Chaucer introduces the Prioress as the fourth pilgrim, illustrating her social status compared to the Wife of Bath, who figures much later, being of the laity. The Prioress’s manner, however, does not parallel her position, and Chaucer implies her good nature to be superficial. As a nun, she should have sacrificed all of her material possessions on entry to the convent and should not pride herself on her appearance. However, she was not undergrown.
Ful fetis was her cloak, as I was aware. She wore a pair of small coral beads around her arm, adorned with green, and a shiny gold brooch hung from it. The brooch had the inscription Amor vincit omnia” (love conquers all), which was ironic and inappropriate for a nun, suggesting both sacred and profane love, and subtly implying immorality. Additionally, she was called “Madame Eglentine,” a name with sexual connotations and links to courtly love, which was also inappropriate for a nun.
The Wife of Bath is brash and ostentatious, but unlike the Prioress, she is honest. Chaucer praises her as a worthy woman al hir live” for this honesty. Chaucer’s use of the word “worthy” is often satirical and cannot always be taken literally. However, in this case, he seems to be genuinely praising the Wife of Bath despite her flaws. There are suggestions of her promiscuity, but Chaucer brushes over her multiple marriages, stating “Housbondes at chirche dore she hadde five, /Withouten oother compaignye in youthe, – /But thereof nedeth nat to speke as nowthe.”
