The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath's Prologue Wealth Quotes Page 2

Here the Wife further corroborates her assertion that she married for money. She was even willing to overlook her husbands' impotence (that's what she means when she says they couldn't hold the statute by which they were bound to her) for their wealth.

Since the Wife already has control of her husbands' wealth, she has no further need to please them. The attitude the Wife expresses here is similar to an antifeminist idea she accuses her husbands of expressing in their drunkenness: that a woman hides her vices until she is married. Here, the Wife reveals her lack of consideration for her husbands' labors only after she has control of their property.

Here the Wife reveals her love for fancy things. Chaucer hinted at as much in the General Prologue when he talked about the Wife's hat as broad as a buckler and her expensive clothing.