Study Guide

The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath's Tale Lines 1037-1051

By Geoffrey Chaucer

Lines 1037-1051

Everyone is commanded to be silent, and the knight is asked to tell the audience what it is that women love best.
The knight immediately answers that women desire to have sovereignty over their husband or lover, to be in mastery above him.
The knight says that he believes this is women's greatest desire, though they may kill him for it. He announces his submission to the queen's will.
No wife, maiden, or widow disagrees with the knight's answer.
Everyone says that the knight ought to keep his life.