The Wife of Bath seems to be one of the more vivacious characters on the pilgrimage. Alice is possessed of some rather extreme views about women's roles and the institute of marriage in a time when women were expected to be passive and even submissive toward men. Many things are consistent between The Wife of Bath's prologue and her tale. One of the most apparent similarities is the dominance of both women over their husbands. There is also the old hag, who in belief and personality is a reasonable facsimile of Dame Alice, as well as the reality that Alice's fifth husband and the knight in the tale are very alike in personality. Although there are contrasts between the prologue and the tale, the resemblances are far too obvious to be coincidental.
To begin with, the Wife of Bath, Dame Alice, claims dominance over all five of her husbands, and although she struggled with her fifth husband in order to achieve the upper hand in the marriage, in the end Dame Alice attains her initial objective. Alice seems only to be truly happy when she has "sovereinetee/ as well over hir housbonde as hir love,/ and for to me in maistrye of him above." (1044-1046) This, although a quote from her tale and not her prologue, perfectly sums up Dame Alice's one true joy in life, and therefore becomes the main theme of her tale. Her husbands have to willingly hand over this "maistrye," consciously or unconsciously, because without their consent she has a struggle on her hands, with both challenging the other for ultimate "sovereinetee" in the relationship. The old hag likewise gains control over her husband. When the knight gives her the choice, he places her in the governing position. Yet again, as witnessed in the Wife of Bath's Prologue, the knight must consent to give up this power in order for the old hag to acquire it, for if he had not given her control of the partnership, both would have continued unhappily.
