In The Canterbury Tales, many characters are not what they seem. Chaucer gives detailed descriptions in the general prologue of all the characters and how they live their lives, from the Knight to the Wife of Bath to the Host. These people all have distinctive backstories and personality traits that set them apart from other characters. The Wife of Bath is a worldly woman and Chaucer describes her as "an estimable woman: she had five husbands, not to mention other company in her youth" (Chaucer 9). The Wife of Bath is a character who knows what she wants and exactly how to get it. The Wife of Bath's story fits her personality, and the Wife of Bath and the old woman in the tale share similar traits. In the general prologue, Chaucer explains the characteristics of the Wife of Bath. He says, “She knew how to laugh and joke in company, and all the remedies of love, for her skill was great in this old game” (Chaucer 10). This particular description of the Wife of Bath shows that she knows, or thinks she knows, a lot about love. Although Chaucer uses “knew” in the quote, this does not mean that the Wife of Bath is the expert on love. Her marriages were shams and she only loved her fifth husband, who beat her. She is not at all a love expert, but rather a passionate one. She likes the idea of ​​being in love and being able to control the men she marries. She can't control every man she marries, but she tries with all her being. It was simple to exert power over the first three, but the last two were a bit more difficult. In the prologue to the tale of the Wife of Bath, the Wife of Bath speaks to the group and says, "As worms destroy a tree, you say, so a woman destroys her husbands, and every man bound to a woman knows ...... middle of paper ... this is the time and age, both of these women would be very good leaders because they know what they want and how to get it. They could be business leaders or even president. In their time, they were expected to obey the orders of men and do as they were told without objection. These two women didn't think this was how women should behave and did everything they could to act differently. They did what they could to take power back from men and be on top and in the lead. Chaucer knew how to bring these women to life and was clever in making them wear the pants, as few people saw it that way at the time. These women are the epitome of “strong, independent women” and can get any man to do whatever he wants in the blink of an eye. Works Cited Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Trans. RM Lumiansky. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1948. Print.