Compare Iago's wife, Emilia, from Othello and the Wife of Bath from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Both women are or have been married, and are pragmatic and down-to-earth. Emilia, as she is still married to Iago and is Desdemona's attendant, has limited freedom, but she speaks her mind plainly. The Wife of Bath, having been widowed five times, has attained personal liberty and wealth, both of which allow her to take the pilgrimage.
The characters are similar in their lusty approach to sexuality and their conviction that women should have an equal or superior status, or "sovereignty," within marriage: this is desirable even if wives cannot always manage to achieve this goal. For Emilia, her philosophy about male-and-female relations emerges in her monologue in which she blames husbands if their wives "fall" or are unfaithful, whether they just fantasize or actually act on it. For the Wife, it is expressed in her tale about beauty and women's desire.