The dominance of the church during the time the story was written is very different from what people experience today. During Chaucer's time people found themselves yearning for salvation and blessings from God. That is why these people were making the journey to Canterbury to begin with. Just the fact that they are making a pilgrimage at all is kind of hard for people today to wrap their heads around. Now people barely make time to go to church once a week. Their longing for and the lengths that people went to receive salvation seem some what absurd to us. During this time there was selling of indulgences occurring. As was represented by Chaucer when he wrote of the Friar. The Fria

r sold indulgences for a price to remit sins of people who have already passed or who have committed a sin. And, whether Chaucer meant to do so or not, the power of the man who holds the key to salvation also seems to be able to get whatever he wants, not just money. This is displayed when Chaucer talks of how the pardoner seduces women who ask for a pardon. Which further displays the power of the church.

Also revolving around the different structure of society was the treatment of women in society. During this time women were seen as devilish creatures that were sensual and deceitful beings. And they were also seen as the cause of man's misfortunes and his sin. Chaucer realized that women were seen this way and played off of this idea in the Wife of Bath's tale. Chaucer was able to reverse the role of women in society by creating a strong-willed woman who went against the norms of society. This tale went against the way that women were suppose to act which in turn creates a very feminist piece. Feminism was an unsupported ideology during that time with which men dominated. The Wife of Bath's tale begins with her pointing out that there is no evidence in the bible that supports the idea of monogamy and chastity of women. Yet this was the common belief of the time. She also points out that she has had 5 husbands that she controlled using her sensuality and

Some common words found in the essay are:
Wife Bath, Friar Friar, Canterbury Tales, Wife Bath's, Bath Prioress, status society, wife bath, Geoffrey Chaucer, canterbury tales, wife bath's tale, sin chaucer, society tale, bath's tale, wife bath's, chaucer wrote, women seen, women society,
Approximate Word count = 930
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)