In Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the tale of the Wife of Bath holds the unique position of being the only story told by a secular woman in the group. The Wife of Bath is a complex character in this, she is not what she seems, and perhaps not even what she thinks she is. At first one might believe that she represents a feminist character in this, championing women's rights and power over men in both the prologue and the short story. Although The Wife of Bath seems to see herself as a feminist (more or less like a strong, independent woman of her time), championing women's rights and power over men in both of her prologues, the story's real perspective is formed from the point of view of a man of the time in this, his entire image seems to change. In particular, it is valid to say that it is highly unlikely that any man of the time saw her in this same light; rather it seems to illustrate all the wrongs that men find in women. Beyond this, it is important to point out that this tale (The Wife of Bath) begins the "Marriage Group", as G.L. Kittredge called it (although other marriages appear in the Canterbury Tales fragments), involving the clerk, the merchant , the Franklin . In this, his stated goals expressed in his Prologue, express a kind of unspoken implication that demonstrates that Alisoun intends to take the place of the authorities traditionally held on marriage. The Wife attacks medieval dogma and uses aggression as her defense. The primacy of authority over experience is reversed. This in turn produces a cycle of experience that produces tolerance, allows exceptions, and sees other points of view. She exemplifies the perfect example of a “failed feminist,” a feeble parody of what men see as feminists. In Chaucer... in the middle of the paper... when he analyzes, explains and understands The Canterbury Tales. , especially "The Wife of Bath's Tale." It is important to have an even balance between feminist critics who see Chaucer as feminist and feminist critics who see him as anti-feminist when trying to expose this character as a progressive creation. While it could be argued that the Wife of Bath could be one of the first feminist characters, there are too many aspects to her that indicate how she is working within the system rather than outside of it. Alisoun is not a character born completely from the genius of his creator. Instead, Alisoun learns how to use what Chaucer initially gives her until she is able to develop her own story, identity, narrative, and conclusion. It will forever be a little piece of Geoffrey Chaucer, but it will forever be his own voice crying, “I am Alisoun. I am the Wife.”