At the beginning of the prologue, the Wife of Bath says that "Experience, even if there were no authority in this world, would be a reason enough for me” (1). She tells the pilgrims that she will use her experience to guide her arguments on marriage before telling the story. Although The Wife of Bath attempts to contradict his misogynistic stereotypes, she unintentionally fulfills his medieval misogynistic stereotypes and reinforces the Pilgrims' belief that men should have control over women. The Wife of Bath is against her misogynistic stereotypes. In the prologue, when the Wife of Bath speaks of her five husbands, she says: "Since I had them entirely in my hands, and since they had given me all their lands, why should I endeavor to take their to please, unless it should be for my own benefit or pleasure? (211) While her husbands ceded their lands to Alisoun, she made no effort to make them feel better! She uses the word “pains” to show that this is something no one would want. She said she had them in her “hand” to show she had control over her husbands. She claims she manipulated them. This fact contradicts medieval misogyny. The Wife of Bath says this to the pilgrims before her story to show that she is against medieval misogyny. The Wife of Bath unwittingly realizes her misogynistic stereotypes. In the prologue she says that “God has expressly commanded us to increase and multiply” (27). Alisoun tries to defend his position of sexual promiscuity by saying that one must increase and multiply. But by saying this, she is indirectly implying that women are objects used to “increase and multiply.” Alisoun reinforces this message by saying that this is God's wish. Even if she thinks she... middle of paper ...... will appear in the minds of the pilgrims. If Eve had been dominated and controlled, she would not have brought misfortune to humanity. By showing the lack of morality in women that makes them inferior, by reminding the pilgrims of all the bad wives in history, and by telling a story that raised questions in the minds of the pilgrims, the Wife of Bath reinforced the domination of men over women among pilgrims. All of the things that the Wife of Bath said, except for what she said about reproduction to contradict her stereotypes, have one thing in common: they are all part of her experience. Alisoun would have done a better job of trying to counter misogyny if she had only used authorities and not used her experience to tell her life story. Since we know that the Wife of Bath is a fictional character, Chaucer might be trying to say that "experience can mislead" through a female character..