Of all the many women depicted in literature over the centuries, Geoffrey Chaucer's The Wife of Bath has inspired more in-depth discussion and gender-oriented analysis than majority. She is in turn praised and criticized for her behavior and her vision of the world; critics can't decide whether it's a strong portrait of 14th-century feminism or a cutting mockery of the female sex. Both his tale and his prologue are filled with themes of conflict and power struggle between the sexes, and the winner of this battle is not made explicit. Since Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are a parody of various social conceptions and literary conventions, it is likely that this ambiguity was entirely intentional. By comparing the Wife of Bath and her husbands to the characters presented in the tale, Chaucer makes the subtle but pointed implication that there is no true victor in the battle of the sexes; the essential qualities of men and women are equally unpleasant, and harmony between the two can only be achieved when an illusion of triumph has been constructed separately for both parties. The Wife introduces her tale with a rather long prologue, in which she details the story of her five different marriages. At first glance it might seem that the prologue has very little relevance to the tale proper, but in reality the way the Wife treats her husbands (and their responses to her) is echoed later when she begins her tale. The Wife's husbands are divided into two categories: the rich and elderly, or the "goode", and the young and virile, or the "badde" (203). Older husbands, despite being rich, are unable to satisfy their Wife in the bedroom. However, she takes great pleasure in dominating these men in almost every aspect of every marriage. Sh... in the center of the sheet... the bond dynamics shown both in the Wife's prologue and in her tale of chivalry place the male and the female on an equal footing; they are by turns equally despicable and praiseworthy. While the wife finds harmony with the one she loves and the hag offers a happy ending for both herself and the knight, Chaucer seems to present a balance between the masculine and the feminine: harmony is achieved through the sacrifice of both the parties. True love and a healthy relationship can never happen without this compromise, because both sexes desire control over the other. You have to give up something on both sides. Chaucer implies that female triumph over male control can still lead to a happy ending; as long as they think they are on top, men will be content, and as long as they have some semblance of power, women will happily give themselves over to controlling men.