Throughout the Wife of Bath prologue, Chaucer chooses to present the relationship between the Wife of Bath and her first three husbands as not consisting of love, and instead gives us the readers, the impression that she married them for convenience and for sex. She tries to justify the way she acts by comparing it to the actions of authority figures and sacred texts.
Chaucer presents the relationship between the Wife of Bath and her first three husbands as being extremely sexual. She says that she had sexual intercourse with her husbands every night, so they could be grateful for this as she gives them so much pleasure. We know this as she says; .
"The firste night had many a mirie fit with ech of hem, so wel was him on live".
this is presented to us the readers as though the Wife is trying to compensate to her husband with sex, for the fact that she does not love them. She believes that if she gives them lots of sex they will carry on loving her. It comes across as though she wants the security of a husband, as she does not feel love towards them and does not want them to leave her, so she gives them sex to make them stay.
Chaucer presents their relationship as being extremely one sided, as the Wife of Bath does not value her husbands love at all, and instead is only interested in materialistic objects and the belongings in which her husband has to offer her. She feels she does not need to repay her husband as she is satisfied with the land she has won, and only has to have sex with them for them to be satisfied. We know that she is only interested in materialistic objects as she says;.
"Bur sith I hadde hem hoolly in myn hond, and sith they hadde me yeven al hir lond".
The Wife of Bath has been presented by Chaucer as being the one who is in control of the relationship. She uses a range of different methods in which she gains control of her husbands. As these first three husbands are presented as being old and submissive, she has tormented them as a way of gaining control and having the upper hand in the relationship.
