In the varied group of pilgrims assembled by Chaucer, the Wife of Bath most simply represents a woman of the time. Unlike the Prioress and her nun companion, who are the only other women on the pilgrimage and who represent other things, her sole purpose is to just be a woman. Chaucer says of her, "Of cloth-making hadde swich an haunt, She passed hem of Ypres and of Gaunt, In al the parissh wif ne was ther noon, That to the offring bifore heir sholde goon."(Chaucer, pp. 310) This passage described her as being a good cloth making-woman who gives an abundance of gifts to the church. She does not