- When is this tale set? (i.e., during the mythic reign
of what king?)
- According to the Wife of Bath, why can't people see
elves any more? What has driven them out of their natural
habitat?
- What does the Wife of Bath mean when she states, "There
is no other incubus than he [the friar]"?
- What happens to the maid riding alone through the corn?
- What crime does the lusty bachelor commit? What is "maidenhead"?
[Hint: This does not mean he
decapitated the girl, as some students have mistakenly
declared.]
- What is the initial punishment King Arthur orders for
the knight? Who intervenes and requests a special trial?
- Who is in charge of this special trial for the rapist
knight?
- What must the knight do to save his head (i.e., what
mission does the court give him)?
- How long does the Knight have to fulfill this mission?
How is this similar or different than the time alloted
to Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?
- What problem does the Knight find when he starts asking
women what the want?
- Which of the following items listed is NOT
a response given by women when he asks them the question?
- Riches,
- Fame,
- Prettiness,
- Rich Array (fine clothes),
- Lust Abed (pleasure in bed),
- Widowhood,
- Re-marriage,
- Flattery,
- Attentions (attentiveness),
- Leisure from work,
- Being free to do what they want,
- Being held constant and trustworthy
- What strange sight does the knight see while riding
through the forest on his return journey?
- What do the twenty-four women do or what happens to
them as the knight approaches?
- What does the Old Hag say she wants in return for providing
the answer to the knight's riddle? (Hint: She doesn't
tell the knight she wants to marry him.)
- What is the Queen and the court's reaction to the knight's
answer?
- What are the wedding celebrations like when the knight
marries the hag? (trick question!)
- What does the hag teach the young knight about nobility
in her lecture? What makes a person "noble"
or "gentle" according to her?
- What defense does the hag provide for her poverty and
her ugliness? Why are these advantages, according to her?
- What two options does the hag present to the knight?
- Which of these two options does the knight pick (trick
question!)
- How does the hag's appearance change at the end of the
story?
Food for thought: How does the Tale of
the Wife of Bath connect to her message in her prologue?
How does the Tale connect to the portrait of the Wife in
the General Prologue? How might her story be a type of wish-fulfillment
for the aging? How does the Hag's transformation externally
match or mirror an internal transformation of the rapist
knight who earlier gave no respect to women's wishes?
Passages for identification:
A. By course of law, [he] should have
lost his head,
Peradventure, such being the statute then;
But that the other ladies and the queen
So long prayed of the king to show him grace,
He granted life, at last, in the law's place,
And gave him to the queen, as she should will,
Whether she'd save him, or his blood should spill.
B. "I'll grant you life if you can
tell to me
What thing it is that women most desire.
Be wise, and keep your neck from iron dire!"
C. "And there he saw, a-dancing him
before,
Full four and twenty ladies, maybe more;
Toward which dance eagerly did he turn
In hope that there some wisdom he should learn.
But truly ere he came upon them there,
The dancers vanished all, he knew not where."
D. "O my dear husband, ben'cite!
Fares every knight with wife as you with me?
Is this the custom in King Arthur's house?
Are knights of his all so fastidious?
I am your own true love, and more, your wife;
And I am she who saved your very life."
E. "Choose, now," said she,
"one of these two things, aye,
To have me foul and old until I die,
And be to you a true and humble wife,
And never anger you in all my life;
Or else to have me young and very fair
And take your chance with those who will repair
Unto your house, and all because of me."
F. "My lady and my love, and wife
so dear,
I put myself in your wise governing;
Do you choose which may be the more pleasing,
And bring most honour to you, and me also.
I care not which it be of these things two;
For if you like it, that suffices me."