LIT 2001 Major English Writers 1 Geoffrey Chaucer’s CT: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale

Historical / Cultural Background: Treatment of Married Women and Attitudes toward Sex in the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, women were portrayed in a terrible light. Many laws existed concerning sexual relations between married people. How do you prevent men (in this male-dominated society) from sinning in sexual matters? Portray women as terrible creatures. This is the kind of society the Wife of Bath would have lived in.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s CT: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale The Wife of Bath's Prologue: Genres a dramatic monologue a confession a secular sermon sermon + exemplum = prologue + tale

Geoffrey Chaucer’s CT: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale Three-Part Division of The Wife of Bath's Prologue Dame Alice's justification of her attitudes toward sex and marriage (Lines 1-198) Dame Alice's first three marriages (Lines ) Dame Alice's fourth and fifth marriage (Lines )

Geoffrey Chaucer’s CT: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale Dame Alice's justification of her attitudes toward sex and marriage (Lines 1-198) Lines Lines Lines Lines

Geoffrey Chaucer’s CT: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale Dame Alice's first three marriages (Lines ) Lines : The first three husbands were "goode, and riche, and olde" (203) Lines : Alice likes her first three husbands because they were easy to dominate and control Alice got what she wanted from her husbands: money, possessions, love (though she didn't seem to love them), sexual satisfaction.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s CT: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale Dame Alice's Fourth and Fifth Marriage (Lines ) Note digression showing Alice's more tender side (Lines ) Dame Alice's answer to control of her forth husband: "[I]n his owene grece I made him frye" (Line 493) The fifth husband, Janekin, is the only husband Alice married for love, not for money (lines 531 ff.) Dame Alice struggles to gain dominance over Janekin Lines : “Who painted the leon, tell me who?” Lines : Alice finally gains control

Geoffrey Chaucer’s CT: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale The Wife of Bath’s Tale What similarities are there between Dame Alice and the tale she tells? (How is her tale an especially appropriate one for her to tell?) From the textbook introduction: “As Chaucer has the Wife tell it, the tale expresses her views about the relation of the sexes, her wit and humor, and her fantasies.”

Geoffrey Chaucer’s CT: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale The Wife of Bath’s Tale Lines : The Knight’s crime Lines : What do woman most desire? The old woman tells the knight that what women most desire is control over their husbands; the knight’s life is saved, but the old woman asks for him to marry her. Lines , : The knight’s reaction to being asked to wed the old woman

Geoffrey Chaucer’s CT: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale The Wife of Bath’s Tale Lines , : The woman explaining “gentilesse” One dictionary definition of “gentilesse” (archaic): “Refinement and courtesy resulting from good breeding” Lines : The knight’s choice and his decision Lines : The Wife’s final comments

Geoffrey Chaucer’s CT: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale The Wife of Bath’s Tale What is the “lesson” or “lessons” about love and marriage presented in The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath’s Tale? What similarities are there between Dame Alice and the tale she tells? (How is her tale an especially appropriate one for her to tell?)