Investigate! The Wife of Bath’s Prologue Section 2
Inve
stig
ate!
The
Wif
e o
f B
ath
’s
Pro
logu
e:
Sec
tion
2: I
. 452
-856
© 2012 crossref-it.info
Page 1 of 3
Investigating l.453 'My
forthe housebonde' - l.502 'He is now in the grave'
Do you think that new aspects of the Wife’s character are revealed in this section?
Read the section out aloud from line 469 ‘But, Lord, Crist! ...’ to line 480. Try to identify for yourself
moments Where the lines flow
smoothly
Where you sense that a pause, a slowing down or a quietening of the voice is necessary to your reading.
How do The Wife’s expression of her
awareness of ageing The pause and flow of the
lines affect the ideas that you
may have formed so far of the Wife as ‘a verray jangleresse’ (l.638, a talkative, ranting, lying
woman)?
Investigating l.503 'Now of
my fifthe housebond' -
l.542 'Had told to me' As a way of examining the Wife’s
social networks and likely gossip,
construct an imaginary Facebook page for the Wife and her Facebook ‘friends’.
Investigating l.543 'And so
bifel' - l.584 'As wel of
this' Chaucer reveals the character of the
Wife through her account of her activities. Make a list of what the Wife
claims she does when her husband is in London Which of these activities
suggest that Chaucer’s
representation of her supports the misogynist view of women as not to be trusted to remain faithful?
Why is it ironic that she
launches into these activities during Lent?
Investigating l.585 'But now, sire' - l.626 'How
poore' Read l.587-626, thinking about
how Chaucer has handled this section. How much of the passage is
about the Wife’s fourth husband?
How much is self-advertisement?
How much is about Jankin? How do you interpret the word
‘hardinesse’ in the Wife’s claim to ‘sturdy hardinesse’ What effect does this have of
your view of her?
Investigating l.627 'What
sholde I seye' - l.665 'I
nolde noght' The comedy and humour in this
section work to lighten the tone of the Wife’s attack on authority.
You may think they reduce its force. What examples can you find of
incidents, rhyming, or situations which create comic effects?
Do you, for example, enjoy the comic effects of these interludes: Chaucer’s handling of the
pace of the narrative l.637 so that the marriage is announced as being celebrated within a month
of the Wife’s bereavement?
Investigate! The Wife of Bath’s Prologue Section 2
Inve
stig
ate!
The
Wif
e o
f B
ath
’s
Pro
logu
e:
Sec
tion
2: I
. 452
-856
© 2012 crossref-it.info
Page 2 of 3
The four line rhyming from l.655 which makes fun of the proverb?
Investigating l.666 'Now
wol I seye' - l.710 'That
women kan' Researching a misogynist text:
Choose any one of the ‘wicked wives’ texts that Jankin preaches from and search for it on the internet
Identify the aspects of it that you think would be anathema to the Wife.
Investigating l.711 'But
now to purpos' - l.771
'Somme han kem' In the midst of the Wife’s anger and
Jankin’s complaint, there is still comedy and humour Look for further examples of
incidents, rhyming or situations which create comic effects, for example: Socrates’ dryly humorous
response to receiving the contents of a chamber-pot l.733
The black humour of Arrrius’ comment that he would like a clipping of the tree on
which wives hang themselves, l.763.
Investigating l.772 'He spak moore' - l.828 'Now
wol I seye' Read
The opening of The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
l.45 of the Wife’s Prologue in which she seems to claim that she would welcome a sixth husband
The line near the end of her Prologue in which the Wife
seems to refer to Jankin as now dead
What connections can you make between these passages?
Investigating l.829 'The
frere lough' - l.856 'Yis dame, quod'
When you consider the content and characters involved in much of the Wife’s Prologue, to what
extent do you see Chaucer’s framing device of the pilgrimage as: Religious Subversively secular?
Think back on your reading work on the text as a whole and identify what you see as the major themes of the Wife’s Prologue Try to express these in a chart
or diagram showing where the themes reveal oppositions in the text .e.g. between:
Male and female Experience and authority Power and domination Pleasure and woe Liberty and constraint
Do you think that any of these oppositions are resolved or broken down by the end of the text?
Thinking about the shape and pattern of the Prologue, consider how you might express it diagrammatically on a large sheet of paper:
What will your diagram look like? You could use a time-line
on which you annotate the periods of the Wife’s life (the main movement is chronological)
You might use a large circle and show how the
Investigate! The Wife of Bath’s Prologue Section 2
Inve
stig
ate!
The
Wif
e o
f B
ath
’s
Pro
logu
e:
Sec
tion
2: I
. 452
-856
© 2012 crossref-it.info
Page 3 of 3
wife begins and ends with an attack on authority
Or …..? Enjoy experimenting. Annotate what you produce
with quotations, line numbers and drawings
You will find that you have to know the text well to do this
You may have to revise some of your first ideas about the way in which the narrative is structured
When you have done it, you will have a quick revision guide to the text. You can look at it and see immediately what events / ideas / images are in particular sections.