Important things to note:  Arthurian Romance=Stories about Arthur and his knights  Chivalric code=Involved how the knights were to behave with regard to those beneath them; to ladies; to God; to their king; and to their country.  Allusions= Biblical (Jesus Christ), Classical/Mythological (Midas, Ovid), Historical (King Arthur, Valerius)

Prologue  Part 1= Wife defends marriage as opposed to virginity and chastity  Part 2=Wife describes her married life  Part 3=Wife describes her final husband Jankin and their arguments over the “book of wicked wives.”

The Church’s Hierarchy  Virgins  Widows who don’t remarry  Married women “It was felt that God must love virgins most and that married people came a very poor third in his affections.” God Men Women Animals

The Wife of Bath’s Tale  The wife tells the story of a rapist knight who must answer a riddle to save his life: What is it that women most desire?

 In the course of her Prologue she seems to confirm as many stereotypes as she confronts. There's no question at all, though, that she gets your attention.  In the late classical period, a lot of authors wrote treatises about the disadvantages of being married, particularly for men who hoped to have careers as scholars and thinkers.

 1. Wives would talk your ear off, preventing you from getting any work done.  2. Wives would demand that you make lots of money to pay for their extravagant lifestyle.  3. They would spill your secrets to anyone who happened to walk by.

What Men Say About Women  Nature has given women so much power that the law cannot afford to give her more. – Samuel Johnson (1700s)  No trust is to be placed in women. – Homer (850 BCE)  A woman, a spaniel, and a walnut tree, The more they’re beaten, the better they be. - Thomas Fuller (1600s)  Can you recall a women who ever showed you with pride her library? – Benjamin Decasseres (early 1900s)

 Girls began to talk and to stand on their feet sooner than boys because weeds always grow up more quickly than crops. – Martin Luther (1533)  A very little wit is valued in a woman, as we are pleased with few words spoken plain by a parrot. – Jonathan Swift (1600s-early 1700s)

Irony  The woe that is her marriage=she inflicted much of this woe herself  Her favorite husband was the one who beat her.  She wants to be dominant but then accepts subservience.  The knight was able to save his life by telling the queen that women want sovereignty above all else. However, the knight made a deal with the hag that cost him his own sovereignty.

So…what do women want most?  “women wish to have sovereignty as well over her husband as her love, and to have mastery over him.”  Women desire power over their own bodies and minds.

 How does Chaucer use satire in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”?  Do you consider the wife of Bath a feminist? Chaucer?  Does the wife really need to manipulate the men in order to get what she wants?

“The Goodman of Paris”  Medieval French guidebook from 1393 on women’s proper behavior in marriage and running a household  Includes sexual advice, recipes and gardening tips  Written by an elderly husband to his 15 year old wife  Theme: Wifely obedience

The Goodman of Paris  How do his views differ from the wife of bath’s views? How does it conflict with what a woman wants (according to the wife of bath). How do the characters differ?  What is the theme of the passage?

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