The Wife of Bath goes on pilgrimages to prove that she can. She's very much a proto-feminist at a time when women are expected to be demure, submissive, and chaste. For most people, going on a pilgrimage is an expression of their religious identity. But for the Wife of Bath, it's different—it's a social ritual, an opportunity to be seen and admired. She's very much a woman of the world, who has married several times and is independently wealthy and completely comfortable in her own skin. She owes absolutely nothing to anyone and so has the time and the leisure to be able to lead her own life. At a time when opportunities for travel were necessarily limited, with journeys long and hard, going on a pilgrimage was a rare chance to explore another part of the country.

Nowadays, members of the international jet set like to congregate at fancy spas or fashionable ski resorts. In late 14th-century England, however, pilgrimages to the holiest shrines in Christendom were the place to be for the ostentatiously wealthy. The long journey to Canterbury and the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket will present the ideal opportunity for the Wife of Bath to let everyone see just how rich and glamorously attired she is. She will be the center of attention, and that's just how she wants it.