ENG208 -- Survey of British Literature: Beginnings to 1789

Prof. Eileen Joy

Fall 2003

READING QUESTIONS #3 ("The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale")

Please respond to the questions with full, complete sentences. You should write at least one FULL paragraph in response to each prompt (a full paragraph is somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-10 sentences, but let's not get distracted by these fine points of detail--what matters to me is that you respond to these prompts with thoughtfulness and care and show me that you have something of substance to say in relation to the reading and discussions we have had in class, and what that ultimately means is: MORE is always better than less). Where the questions are interpretive in nature, there are NO right or wrong answers, only your opinion (an opinion, nevertheless, that's hopefully grounded in a close reading of the text as well as a close attention to background material presented in class). It wouldn't be a bad idea either to point to and/or quote specific passages from the text in order to support your observations and ideas (that will help you practice a skill that will become an absolute necessity when you are writing your papers).

1. What is the "great chain of being," and why is it important when thinking about "The Wife of Bath's Prologue"?

2. At the beginning of her "Prologue," the Wife of Bath indicates that "experience" is a better teacher than "auctoritee" ("authority," meaning: book knowledge as well as, more specifically, the writings of Catholic Church saints and clerics on marriage). What do you think she means by that? Would you agree with her? Why, or why not?

3. Why do you think the Wife is so enamored of her fifth husband, Janekin, who she tells us was the only husband she married for love, and not for money ("Prologue," line 531 forward)? Do you believe her? Do you think their relationship is a good one? Why, or why not?

4. According to the old woman in Wife of Bath's "Tale," what women really want is "sovereinetee" (meaning, "sovereignty" or "supremacy in respect of power, domination, or authority"; "Tale," line 1043 forward). What does she mean by that? Is this, indeed, "what women really want?" Why, or why not?

5. How would you characterize the differences between the plot and characters of "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell" and of "The Wife of Bath's Tale"? Why do you think Chaucer made the changes he did?