ate, a situation which she does not mind and embraces with considerable enthusiasm. As she states: "Welcome the sixte whan that evere he shal!/For sothe I wol nat kepe me chast in al;/Whan myn housbond is fro the world y-gon,/Som Cristen man shal wedde me anon." (Lines 45-48)
It is paradoxical that a woman of her lusty ways would be on a religious pilgrimage to the Shrine of Saint Thomas a Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Yet, the persons on this pilgrimage were representatives of every- type of human being, although the Wife of Bath was representative in a highly burlesque way. All of the follies of mankind are revealed by the pilgrims as they go on their holy journey, and the Wife of Bath is no exception.
In "The Prologue," the Wife of Bath speaks against the virtues of virginity. Then by
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