in many ways very elemental, direct and easily comprehended at an emotional level. In what she has to say on the subjects of marriage and relations between the sexes, the Wife of Bath is reacting to the medieval attitudes then prevalent regarding sexual ideals and attitudes. The church then had a system that governed such matters. In the tenth century, a series of "penitential books" started to appear which explored the subject of sex in all its details, describing every misdeed at length and the penalties that would follow. There was an absolute ban on all sexual activity other than intercourse between married persons, and even that had to be carried out with the aim of procreating. The sexual act, even in marriage, was considered to be accompanied by lust and sin unless performed solely for the purpose of procreating. All sorts of prohibitions were placed on the sexual act, even within marriage. Women were singled out for particular blame and were targeted by the church with particular harshness. Women had bee
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