Narrative Poem: The Wife of Bath's Tale
What are the knight's reasons for not being able to love his new wife?
He says she is old, plain, poor, and low-bred, meaning not of "gentle birth" or nobility.
The knight tells the old hag, "You're old, and so abominably plain, / So poor to start with. . . ." What arguments does the old woman use to turn poverty and old age into virtues? Do you think her arguments are convincing?
In Chaucers, "The Wife of Bath's Tale," the old hag gives the answer to courtly love. To live in virtue and to shrink from sinning, in which the old hag uses poverty and old age to show you can be good without appearing to be beautiful.
What deal does the knight make with the old woman he meets, and how does he fulfill his bargain with her?
In exchange for the correct answer to the queen's question, the knight will do whatever the old woman asks of him. To fulfill the bargain, he marries her, because that is her demand.
The Wife of Bath can best be described as
Jovial
According to the old woman, what women really want is —
Mastery over their husbands
Which adjective does not describe the Wife of Bath's narrative voice?
Mournful
What choice does the knight's wife give him?
She says he can choose to have her old, ugly, but loyal until she dies or he can have her young and pretty and take his chances on her loyalty.
How is the old woman changed at the end of the story?
She transforms herself into a young and lovely woman.
Like the Pardoner, the Wife of Bath tells the other pilgrims a tale that expresses an important point she wants to make. In some ways the story is similar to a fairy tale, and it teaches a moral. What elements of the story fit the characteristics of a fairy tale, and what is the point that the Wife of Bath wants to make? Use details from the selection to support your answer.
The Wife of Bath's Prologue is technically a part of the frame story of The Canterbury Tales, meaning that it's a part of the action that occurs among the characters, between the tales that they tell. This means that the Wife's Prologue takes place on the pilgrimage between London and Canterbury. Because the Wife narrates numerous flashbacks, however, the setting of her Prologue actually shifts in time and place from the pilgrimage to the sites and times of the Wife's previous marriages.
What crime does the knight commit, and what does the queen require of him so that he can save himself from being beheaded?
The knight has stolen the virtue of a maiden. To live, he must answer the question, "What is the thing that women most desire?" He has a year and a day to find the answer.
Based on "The Wife of Bath's Tale," what is Chaucer's view of life? Compare and contrast Chaucer's view with the Wife of Bath's view of life. Give evidence from the text for the presence of each view of life.
Through the character of the Wife of Bath, Chaucer makes political and social commentary about the nature of goodness and morality and states that one is not born into these qualities by virtue of wealth or privilege, but that they are bestowed by the grace of God. In the end, because the knight gives the old woman power, she gives it back to him and they live happily ever after.
The knight undertakes a quest to —
learn what it is that women want most
As a reward for giving him the answer that will save his life, the old woman demands —
to marry the knight
Read the description of the Wife of Bath in "The Prologue" to The Canterbury Tales. Cite two quotations of direct and indirect characterization that imply this woman is not as "worthy," or virtuous, as the speaker first indicates. Explain what a reader might infer about the woman's character.
(lines 459-462). The Wife of Bath gets angry if another woman draws attention away from her. "Her hose were of the finest scarlet red / And gartered tight; her shoes were soft and new / Bold was her face, handsome, and red in hue." (lines 466-468). The wife likes to attract and flirt with men.
According to the old woman, what brings the most happiness to marriage?
A wife's dominance over her husband
