The wife of Bath in Chaucer's tale makes good use of suspense to build her tale. Her narration may seem to meander, but all elements are essential to her tale. She first presents mern's impatience, both in the friar's complaint and in the lusty knight's behavior toward the maiden whom he rapes. The Queen works further on his patience by giving him a year and a day to find the answer to her question. Also, the wife's introduction about the existence of fairies during the reign of King Arthur prepares us for the magical transformation of the old woman at the end of the story. Next comes a lengthy description of women's desires and faults, and again the reader is taken to a magical real through the narration of Ovid's fable. The old woman the knight meets provides him the answer to the Queen's question but agan applies suspense by withholding her request until it can be witnessed by all the ladies gathered in court. After the wedding, the old woman replies to the knight's protests regarding their marriage. It appears that the knight must resign himself to be wedded to this old, ugly woman; but then she surprises him by asking him to choose between having a beautiful or a faithful wife; he puts himself under her rule by asking her to make the choice, and thus the old woman proves the truth of her answer to the Queen's question and rewards her husband's humbleness by becoming beautiful and remaining a faithful wife.
