English Literature: A Wife of Bath

ENGLISH LITERATURE
A WIFE OF BATH
PREPARED BY : FATIMA A. QUICHO
ENGLISH LITERATURE
 Literature written in English since c. 1450 by the inhabitants of

the British Isles; it was during the 15th century that the English
language acquired much of its modern form.
 the first works in English, written in Anglo-Saxon dialect now
called Old English, appeared in the early Middle Ages (the
oldest surviving text is Caedmon’s Hymn).
 The oral tradition was very strong in early British culture and
most literary works were written to be performed.
The Author
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
(1340-1400)
 Poet Geoffrey Chaucer
was born circa 1340 in
London, England. In 1357
he became a public
servant to Countess
Elizabeth of Ulster and
continued in that capacity
with the British court
throughout his lifetime.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
(1340-1400)
 English poet Geoffrey
Chaucer wrote the
unfinished work, The
Canterbury Tales. It is
considered one of the
greatest poetic works in
English.
 The Canterbury
Tales became his
best known and
most acclaimed
work.
 He died October 25, 1400 in London,
England, and was the first to be
buried in Westminster Abbey’s Poet’s
Corner.
 He died of unknown causes and was
60 years old at the time. His
gravestone became the center of
what was to be called Poet’s Corner,
a spot where such famous British
writers as Robert Browning and
Charles Dickens were later honored
and interred.
CANTERBURY TALES
a collection of stories in a variety of

genres, ostensibly told by a group of
pilgrims on their way to Canterbury.
Remarkably, they are from all forms of life,
which is reflected as much in the
language they use as in the content of
their stories.
THE CANTERBURY TALES
SEVEN PILGRIMS ( THESE ARE THE FAMOUS WORKS OF

CHAUCER)
A KNIGHT
A SQUIRE
A PRIORESS
A MONK
A STUDENT (OXFORD CLERIC)
A WIFE OF BATH
A MILLER
PROLOGUE OF A WIFE OF BATH
There was a Wife from Bath, a well-appearing

Woman who was (alas!) quite hard of hearing.
She had such skill in making cloth that all
The weaver’s guilds of Ypres and Ghent looked small
In all the parish, not a soul dared offer
A thing to her, or, if they did, they’d suffer-
So loud she railed, so full of wrath was she
That she would lose all sense of charity.
The kerchiefs that she used were finely wound –

I’d take an oath they weighed above ten pound –
Which, of a Sunday, were upon her head.
Her stockings were the finest scarlet-red,
Tightly held up; her shoes were soft and new.
Bold was her face, and fair, and red of hue.
She was a worthy woman all her life;
She’d had five church-door husbands as a wife,
And others in her youth she would allow –

But there’s no need to mention such things now.
Thrice had she visited Jerusalem
And she had crossed o’er many a foreign stream.
She’d been at Rome, she’d journeyed to Boulogne,
To Saint James’ in Galicia, to Cologne.
She’d gathered much from wandering by the way:
She was gap-toothed and loose-tongued, truth to say.
Upon an ambling mare she easily sat,

Her face half-veiled, an on her head a hat
Broad as a buckler, broader than a shield.
A mantle fell about her but revealed
Large hips and feet equipped with sharpened spurs.
In company the laugh was always hers.
The remedies for love she knew, perchance –
She knew the art of dancing that old dance!
In a land populated
by fairies and elves,
in the days of King
Arthur, a young
knight rapes a
maiden he sees
walking from the river
one day.
For his offense, Queen
Guinevere and her
ladies rule that his
punishment is to find
out within one year
what women most
desire, or else he'll be
beheaded.
The knight departs on his
quest to find the answer to
this question, but despite
questioning women all
over the land and
receiving numerous
answers, he cannot find
two women who agree on
what women most desire.
After a year, the knight
returns to King Arthur's
court with a heavy
heart, no closer to
knowing what women
most desire. On the
way, he comes across
a ring of 24 fairy ladies
dancing.
The fairies quickly
disappear, only to be
replaced by an ugly old
hag. Upon learning of his
quest, the hag agrees to
tell the knight what
women most desire if he
promises to grant her
anything she desires. The
knight agrees.
The hag tells the knight
what women most
desire – to have
sovereignty over their
husbands and lovers.
The queen and all the
ladies assemble agree
that he is correct.
As the court is adjourning,
the hag petitions the
queen to force the knight
to fulfill his promise to her:
she wants the knight to
marry her. Despite the
knight's reluctance, the
queen insists that he must
do so, and the knight and
hag are married.
On their wedding knight,
the knight doesn't want to
consummate the marriage.
The hag asks what ails him,
and he tells her that she is
so ugly, old, and low-class
that it's no wonder he does
not desire her.
This prompts a long
speech from the hag
on the true origins of
gentility, and the
advantages of
poverty and old age.
The hag concludes her
speech by offering the knight
a choice: either he can have
her old and ugly, but a good
and faithful wife, or he can
have her young and
beautiful, but with no
guarantee of these other
good qualities.
The knight turns
the decision over
to his wife, asking
her to make the
choice.
Once the hag has
confirmed that her
husband has yielded
sovereignty to her, she
tells him that she will be
both: young and
beautiful, and a faithful,
good wife to him.
The knight takes his
young, beautiful wife in his
arms and they live
happily ever after. The
wife is not only faithful and
good, but also obedient
to her husband for the rest
of their lives together.
The Wife concludes her story by
praying Jesus to send women
"housbondes meke, yonge, and
fresshe a-bedde / and grace
to'overbyde hem that we
wedde" (1265-1266). She also
calls down a curse on husbands
who refuse to be ruled by their
wives.
References
Bibliography
World Literature ( The Universsal and Timeless Voices of Humanity.
https://www.biography.com/people/geoffrey-chaucer-9245691
Insights
Insights
Things are unpredictable. We’ll never know what would our life be at
stake when we’re trying to get the things we want to survive. Just like what
happened to the knight. He may be aggressive and don’t think of the
consequence especially the fact of being a husband to his old wife thought
that it was unjustifiable. That maybe is a best example of not judging a book by
its cover. The old woman actually did not force the man to choose her but
instead, she throws various thoughts full of wisdom that made the man change
his decision. Besides, what he was looking for the whole time was probably how
would man starts to change their perspectives over their dominance above
women. Consequently, women are also human. We should be treated and
respected the same as men. I obviously agree with the idea implied in this story
for the sovereignty of women should somehow prevail on some aspects
knowing that women can also be equipped with how men are capable of
especially on the idea of respect and values..

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ENGLISH LITERATURE

 Literature written in English since c. 1450 by the inhabitants of

a collection of stories in a variety of

SEVEN PILGRIMS ( THESE ARE THE FAMOUS WORKS OF

There was a Wife from Bath, a well-appearing

The kerchiefs that she used were finely wound –

And others in her youth she would allow –

Upon an ambling mare she easily sat,

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