Modern and Old-Fashioned Approaches to Sexuality and Romantic Love in the Wife of Bath Tale

The Wife of Bath's approach to sexuality can be seen as modern because the wife was open about it. When she was describing her marriages and she sort of reveled what their sex life was like as well. For example,  44b       Bothe of here nether purs and of here cheste. 
                 Both of their lower purse (scrotum) and of their strongbox.
This line was describing her husbands private area. The reason she would marry these men is because she thought they had nice bodies. Her  marriages were based of her lust not love. If she found a man to be sexually desirable she would take the time to tell what part of the man's body she fancies the most.

The old-fashioned approach to sexuality is that she tells about her husband's private parts but she does not describe exactly how their sex life was. It differs from modern times because in modern times people are so open about their sex lives to the point where people feel like they know to much. People today just tell it all; they even tell about what sexual acts were performed while their sexual intercourse took place. What makes the Wife of Bath tale old-fashioned is the way she describes her lust for her husband's. For example, 416       For wynnyng wolde I al his lust endure, The translation is : For profit I would endure all his lust

The modern approach to romantic love is shown in the way that love is shown today. Yes, people to find true love and live a happy life together. As a criminal justice major though we see that relationships today are dealing with a lot of domestic violence. In the Wife of Bath tale she talks about how her fifth husband was abusive. For example, in these lines she describes how her husband would beat her; then he could win her heart back after hurting her.
511       That thogh he hadde me bete on every bon,
                That though he had beat me on every bone,
512       He koude wynne agayn my love anon.
                He could win back my love straightway.

The romantic love in the Wife of Bath tale can be considered to be old-fashioned because she was subservient to her husband. To be exact her fifth husband she could not over power. Her husband was the dominant figure and back in those days that is what the norm was. When she made her husband mad he let her know that he was the head of the household. She chose to obey him because she knew if she did not she would suffer great consequences. This is what me call in modern times living like a 50's housewife. It is similar to what happened in the Wife of Bath tale because the 50's is considered to be old-fashioned living to us. The Wife of Bath tale shows us the true meaning of old-fashioned love; the wife's fifth did not think she was attractive in the beginning. Then as time went her he saw her true beauty and because of that she turned from an old hag to a beautiful young women. That is another reason why the romantic love in the Wife of Bath tale is old-fashioned.