The First Three Husbands 194-223

Vocabulary:
 Moote: may
 Sooth: truth
 Unnethe might: hardly might
 Statut: rule/law
 Woot: know
 Swinke: sweating labour
 Yeven: given
 Deynetee: value
 Hooly: wholly/completely
 Ese: pleasure
 Weilawey: woe is me
 Trowe: believe
 Fawe: eager
 Spitously: cruelty

194-200:
The WOB had 3 good husbands, who were old and rich. They hardly ever ‘paid their debt’ that they owed to the
WOB.

“Unnethe might they the statut hold…bounden unto me.”

 Sexual euphemism and biblical allusion: contradictory ideas.

 Gives WOB power/superiority over them- they pay debts towards her, they owe her sex.

201-214:
The wife says she didn’t need to care for them or cater to them, as they’d already given her all of their
money/gold/land.

“But it were for mine profit and ease?”

 Selfish- only concerned about herself.

 Mimics pardoner.

“I had them hoolly in mine bond.”

 WOB has power over her husband.

 Unconventional marriage dynamics for Medieval England- role reversal.
Can be seen as progressive/feminist.

Exam Question: How is marriage presented?

 Presented as a contract of obligation, rather than a declaration of love.
 Power imbalance: WOB holds power over her husbands, they ‘pay’ her but she does not in return, despite
the bible saying both the man and women should give themselves away to their partner- hypocritical.

21/02/23
Recap 194-223:
 The WOB is presented as authoritative and dominant in her marriage.
Takes advantage of her husbands for her own gains.
Manipulative.
Unappreciative of them at the time, however, after her two negative marriages she is more appreciative of
the marriages.
 Quotes that suggest her dominance: “They were bound unto me,” “I had them wholly in my hand,” “How
piteously a night I made them work!” “I governed them so well.”
 Why is she presented this way?
She doesn’t want them to become complacent.
However- she may be joking, or exaggerating.

As the WOB introduces her first three husbands, she suggests their marriages had a power imbalance, with the
WOB being dominant over the husbands. Sovereignty