The Wife of Bath’s

Tale
What do women want most?
The Cure to all Love’s Ills
What do women want most?
Write the best response you got as you tell us the answer and age
 How does answering this
question help us
understand human nature?

Write your answer on a

separate sheet, but leave space
to revisit it later!
 Frame Narrative/ Envelope structure

 The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer: 29 pilgrims on

their way to…
 Each Tale occurs within The Canterbury Tales
 “The Pardoner’s Tale”

 “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”

 Tale within “Wife of Bath’s Tale”
 Setting
 Thomas Becket Murdered: 1170
 Time and Place of the Story The Canterbury Tales
 Spring time; Sometime after the Murder—some say as
early as between 1171-1173; some say much later 1381
 Time and Place of the Tale “The Wife of Bath”
 During the reign of legend King Arthur
 Long before 1170
 Wife of Bath
 An early Feminist
 Church’s anti-feminine tendencies
 Conflict b/t bookish male “auctoritee”
(authority) and female “experience”
 Knowledge of books
 Knowledge of the world
 “Expert Wife”
 Final husband, Johnny, finally learned what
women want most
 Knight demonstrates this idea
 Frame Narrative/ Envelope structure

 The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer: 29 pilgrims on

their way to…
 Each Tale occurs within The Canterbury Tales
 “The Pardoner’s Tale”

 “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”

 Tale within “Wife of Bath’s Tale”:
 King Midas
So…what do women want most?
 To be master over her husband or lover
 How does the Knight learn this
lesson?
 Let’s her choose what form to take
 Reflect 1
 How does this tale reflect what we know of the
wife of bath?
 Anticipate 1
 What does this tale by Wife of Bath tell us about
the Character’s motives?
 What do women want most?
 To be master over her husband or lover
Wife of Bath Reflection Question
 In today’s society, where might you find
individuals who would agree with the Wife and
the philosophy she illustrates with her story?
Who might argue against such opinions?

 Answer this reflection in a 5-7 sentence

paragraph.