ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -She is deaf in one ear and has a gap between her front teeth, which was considered attractive in Chaucer’s time.

Detailed explanation-2: -As early as this time period, the gap between the front teeth, especially in women, was associated with lustful characteristics. Thus, the implication in describing “the gap-toothed wife of Bath” is that she is a middle-aged woman with insatiable lust.

Detailed explanation-3: -In “The General Prologue, ” Chaucer describes the Wife of Bath as a deaf, gap-toothed woman. She has a bold face and wears ten pounds of “coverchiefs” and a hat on her head (Chaucer 91). She wears a skirt with red stockings and tight-laced supple shoes. She is also a great weaver and has been on many pilgrimages.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Wife of Bath’s deafness is one of her most prominent characteristics. Not only is it the first thing which Chaucer describes about her in the General Prologue, but the whole of the Wife’s own prologue builds toward and ultimately concludes with the Wife’s story of how she was struck deaf by her husband Jankyn.

Detailed explanation-5: -Answer and Explanation: In Chaucer’s time, women were supposed to be submissive and obedient to their husbands. In addition, marriage was viewed as forever unless the husband died, and even then a widow should maintain some loyalty. The Wife of Bath, however, is openly sexual and interested in always finding a new man.