1. The Canterbury Tales
The Wife of Bath
ENGL 411 HO

2. Matching I _______1. Who says “I was about to take a wife, . . .”?
Pardoner 4
_______1. Who says “I was about to take a wife, . . .”?
_______2. Who says “I’ve been an expert as a wife,
That is to say, myself have been the whip.”?
_______3. Who replaced the faries?
_______4. Who intervenes on the knight’s behalf?
_______5. How long does the knight have to find the answer
to the queen’s question? 
Wife of Bath
12-13
Friars
47-48
Queen
70-74
1 year & 1 day
85-86

3. Matching I continued
Midas
_______6. Who grows “splendid pair of ass’s ears”? _______7. In Ovid’s version, who told Midas’s secret? _______8. Who helps the knight by giving him the correct answer? _______9. Who is the king in the Wife of Bath’s tale?
Barber
*158
Crone
197
Arthur
57-58/269

4. Matching II – Lines
Knight
_______10. Who believes “gentle birth descends from ancient
wealth . . .”?
_______11. Who believes that one who “loves to work for virtuous
ends . . .” is a gentleman?
_______12. Who believes lacking material goods means poverty?
_______13. Who says the “truly poor are those who whine and fret and covet what they cannot hope to get” and “The poor can dance and sing in the relief of having nothing to tempt a thief”?
Crone
Knight
353,370,371/
Crone

5. Matching II – 285-390 continued
Crone
_______14. “Who says “Gentility must come from God alone”?
_______15. Who “need not fear to be a cuckhold”?
_______16. Who is “old and fouler than a fen (swamp)”? 
Crone
390
Crone
389

6. Short Answer III
17. YES/NO – Circle the correct answer. Does the Wife of Bath want her audience to be offended at views?
18. (line 64) What crime did the knight commit?
19. (line 67) How does the king plan to punish the bad knight?
20. (lines 80-81) What is the knight’s quest? What question must he answer?   
21. (line 82) What will happen to the knight if he can’t answer the queen’s question?
No. Lines 29-30
“By very force he took her maidenhead.
The King condemns the knight to loose his head.
To answer what it is that women want most from a man.
“Beware the axe and say as I require.”

7. Short Answer III continued
(lines ) List 5 things women say they want. A. B. C. D. E.
Do exactly as they please (freedom). 112
Dance attendance, make a fuss. 109
No one to reprove them of their faults/lies. 113
Cossetted and flattered.J
Be called good and wise. 114
Oft be widowed and remarried. 104
Wealth and treasure. 101
Honor, jollity & pleasure. 102
Gorgeous cloths, fun in bed. 103

8. Short Answer III continued
(lines ) What does the knight say women want most?
24. (lines ) What does the old lady (crone) ask the knight in return for
saving his life?
(lines ) Why does the knight stay “hidden like an owl”?
The self-same sovereignty over her husband as her lover.
To take her as his wife.
Wife looked foul and he is miserable because he know he must marry the crone.

9. Short Answer III continued
26. (lines ) List three reasons the knight doesn’t want the crone as his wife. A. B.
  C.
27. (lines ) What choice does the old woman offer the knight?
28. (lines ) What is the knight’s decision about his choice?
29. (lines ) What happens to the old crone?
She is old and so plain.
She is poor.
She is low bred.
Be old and ugly until death, but be true/loyal OR
Be loyal, ture, humble wife who will never displease you .
He leaves the decision to his wife.
She becomes young and lovely and rich in charms.

10. Literary Element: Couplets
____ 6. A couplet is two consecutive lines of poetry that a. contain similar symbols b. include metaphors linked by the word and c. rhyme d. have alliteration ____ 7. Which of the following quotations from “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is a couplet? a. “In honor to us both, I don’t care which; / Whatever pleases you suffices me” b. “The knight thought long, and with a piteous groan / At last he said, with all the care in life” c. “His heart went bathing in a bath of blisses / And melted in a hundred thousand kisses” d. “May I go howling mad and take my life / Unless I prove to be as good and true” C