The Wife of Bath's Prologue

The Wife of Bath is upset with the patriarchal society that exists during her time.  She does not want men to have, or think they have, control of women.  She talks describes how she was in control of her husbands, and describes what she did to manipulate them, which establishes her rebellion from traditional patriarchal expectancies.  Love is referred to again in this prologue, as is the role of Gods in human's lives.  The pattern of jealousy acting as a destructive force continues in this prolugue, because Alison's husbands are always jealous of her open attitude towards other men (and they have reason to be).  Alsion says she only married her first three husbands for money, but she seems to be happy while with them; Jankyn is the husband Alison loves the most, but she fights constantly, even physically.  Although someone seems to always end up happy in the tales, love is also always causing pain.  Alison blames her desire to have fun on Venus, instead of taking responsibility for her actions.  In "The Knight's Tale," Palamon and Arcite look to the God's for help before their big battle.  There is a tendency for the humans in the story to think they cannot behave a certain way without the influence of Gods, underlining a theme that Gods have control of humans.