There is a question, however, about why Chaucer assigned this tale to the Shipman. We would have expected a tale more ribald and lusty from a man of the sea who has been to many ports. Furthermore, at the beginning of the tale are some puzzling lines:
The silly husband always has to pay
He has to clothe us, he has to array
Our bodies to enhance his reputation,
While we dance round in all this decoration.
(The sely housbonde, algate he moot paye,
He moot us clothe, and he moot us arraye,
Al for his ownene worshipe richely
In which array we daunce jolily)
The use of the first person plural pronoun “us” in the phrase “he has to clothe us” clearly suggests that Chaucer intended to assign this story to one of the female members of the party, and due to the subject matter it could have been no one other than the Wife of Bath. Apparently Chaucer wrote this story for her and then changed his mind, forgetting to eliminate the inconsistent passage.
