Comments on the Wife of Bath

What intrigued me about the "Wife of Bath's Tale" is that this woman seems to justify her marriages and divorces with a story about an Aurthurian knight who does wrong. I feel that she tells this tale to help aliviate the burdon of her mistakes within her love life. No where in the Canterbury Tales does the narrator say that these stories, told by the various travelers, have to be true. Maybe she was making up this far fetched story to divert attention from her own life. I think it is important to understand that men, especially courtly men and knights, could have another true love outside of marriage. In fact, this practice was not uncommon. However, why is it unjustifed if a woman, such as the wife of bath, decides to flaunt her sexuality? This only shows the anti-femenistic sentiment that was evident, and ramped during the Chaucerian era. This woman is the only female character in the book that is not being pursued in "courtly love". In the other stories it is the men who are professing their love for various women, regardless of their marital status. She is taking on the male dominating role by seeking out and taking Jakyn for her own. It is interesting to me that Chaucer decided to include this strong female heroine in his Canterbury Tales. It is not surprising, however, that in his retraction, he takes back this notion. Interesting.