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Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale
Note-Taking and Summarizing Chart
Directions: Complete the Note-Taking and Summarizing Chart below to help you
remember the events of each tale. Fill in the chart using bullet points or phrases. After
you have completed the four categories for Summary, Characters, Theme, and Narrator,
analyze why Chaucer included this pilgrim’s tale in the collection. What is Chaucer’s
message through this particular pilgrim’s tale?
Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale
Summary of the Tale
Characters Involved in the Tale
Theme or Message of the Tale
What We Learn About the Narrator
Why This Tale is Important to the Whole
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Comprehension Check
Directions: As you read the Wife of Bath’s Tale, complete the following activity.
Answer the questions using complete sentences on a separate piece of paper.
1. What issue seems to set the Wife of Bath off on a tirade?
2. What does the Wife of Bath turn to for support for her side?
3. Why does the Pardoner cut in? How does this interjection change the mood of
the tale?
4. How does the Wife of Bath characterize her husbands?
5. What strategy does the Wife of Bath use to keep her husbands from finding fault
with her?
6. Comparing the five husbands, what stands out the most about her last one?
7. What is the setting of the Wife of Bath’s tale? (Include where and when the story
takes place.)
8. How is the answer to the question plaguing the knight fitting for his crime?
9. What does the old wife say that convinces the knight to leave it up to her?
10. How does the tale reflect the prologue?
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Standards Focus: Analyzing Appeals in Arguments
When arguing a point, one must appeal to the audience in a way that will make the argument
convincing. There are three main classifications of appeals. One classification (a form of
rhetoric often called ethos) involves the use of expert testimony to validate the person
making the assertion. That person will try to appear as though he or she should be trusted
because he or she is an expert on the topic or has experts on his or her side. Another type of
appeal involves the manipulation of emotions (pathos). With this appeal the person arguing
tries to evoke specific emotions and use them to sway the audience. The third classification
is an appeal through logic (logos). The person making the argument tries to reach his or her
audience through logic and reasoning.
Part One
The Wife of Bath is potentially the most argumentative pilgrim on the trip. Her prologue
consists of approximately 22 pages of argument about the subject of marriage, including the
legitimacy of remarriages and how best to assert control over one’s husband. In the prompts
below, the Wife of Bath’s argument has been broken down into different assertions.
Directions: Read each assertion carefully. For each, find an example of each type of
appeal indicated. Once you have found the appeal, summarize the example and briefly
explain how the Wife of Bath is using it to support her claim. An example of each has been
done for you.
Ex. Assertion: The Wife of Bath’s first assertion is that despite opinions to the contrary, it
is perfectly acceptable for her to marry a second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth time as long as
the preceding husbands are deceased. She claims this opinion comes from Christ’s trip to
the wedding at Cana, and the time when Christ told the Samaritan at the well that she is not
morally married to all five of her husbands. (258 – 262)
Appeal Using Expert Testimony
a. Example: She talks about men in the Bible who had many wives at the same time
and who are still considered to be holy men.
b. Explanation: She is using this example to support the idea that she should be
allowed to remarry once her husband has died because these men were bigamists and
polygamists. These are two different topics, but the use of the Bible provides a type
of expert testimony.
Appeal to Emotion
a. Example: She plays on the fear of sinning and eternal damnation when she says, “it
is better to marry than to burn.”
b. Explanation: Her implication is that if she chose to simply be with a man rather
than to marry him, she would damn her soul. People in her time feared eternal
damnation so this appeal could work.
Appeal Using Logic
a. Example: When she says that God commanded marriage, she adds that he did not
set a limit on the number of marriages.
b. Explanation: By saying God did not set a limit on the number of marriages, she is
trying to prove that the rule against remarriage is not valid.
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1. Assertion: It is possible to control one’s husband by taking the offensive and
accusing him of wrongdoing he has not committed.
Appeal Using Expert Testimony
a. Example:
b. Explanation:
2. Assertion: Within the argument the Wife of Bath poses to the other pilgrims is
an argument she has had with her husbands. Her main assertion is that they
need to give her absolute control in the marriage.
Appeal Using Expert Testimony
a. Example:
b. Explanation:
Appeal to Emotion
a. Example:
b. Explanation:
Appeal Using Logic
a. Example:
b. Explanation:
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3. Assertion: The Wife of Bath makes the assertion that “bed-time was their
greatest misfortune” because that was when she could be the most manipulative.
Appeal Using Expert Testimony
a. Example:
b. Explanation:
Appeal to Emotion
a. Example:
b. Explanation:
Appeal Using Logic
a. Example:
b. Explanation:
Part Two
Just as there is an argument within the prologue, there is also an argument being
made in the tale. The supporting evidence for this argument can be found in both
the prologue and the tale. In an essay, analyze the Wife of Bath’s argument in the
tale, and explain how she uses different appeals throughout the prologue and tale to
convince her audience to believe her. In the conclusion, state whether or to what
degree she is successful.
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Assessment Preparation: Appositives
Appositives are nouns or noun phrases that rename a noun. They can be
restrictive (essential to the meaning of the sentence) or nonrestrictive (not
essential to the meaning of the sentence).
Nonrestrictive clauses and phrases add nonessential information to a sentence. This
means you could remove a nonrestrictive clause or phrase from a sentence and the
essential meaning of the sentence would not change. Because the nonrestrictive
element can be removed from the sentence, a comma is placed in front of and behind
it. If the nonrestrictive element appears at the end of a sentence, a comma is placed
before it. If the nonrestrictive element appears at the beginning of a sentence, a
comma is placed after it. For example:
My mother, who is an avid reader, likes to read a new novel each week.
Notice that the clause in italics above is not necessary in order to understand the
meaning of the sentence.
Unlike nonrestrictive elements, restrictive clauses and phrases limit the meaning
within a sentence so much that it is necessary for the clause or phrase to be a part of
the sentence in order for it to make complete sense. Because their presence in the
sentence is necessary, restrictive elements are not set off by commas. For example:
The book that my mother read this week is a classic.
Notice that the clause “that my mother read this week” is not set off by commas.
Commas are needed in order to make the meaning clear. If you were to remove the
clause, the true meaning of the sentence would be unclear. Which book are you
talking about? “The book that my mother read this week….”
Part One
Directions: For each of the following sentences, underline the appositive, (a)
state whether it is restrictive or nonrestrictive, (b) briefly explain your choice, and
(c) insert commas where necessary to correctly incorporate the appositive. If no
commas are needed, leave the sentence as written. An example has been done for
you.
Ex. Jacob of the Old Testament was famous for practicing bigamy and is said to
have had 10 wives.
a. Restrictive
b. Jacob is a common name so we need to identify exactly which Jacob practiced
bigamy.
1. Abraham a bigamist had several wives.
a.
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b.
2. Show me a Bible in which God the Christian deity disparages or sets a prohibition
on marriages.
a.
b.
3. The music critic disparaged the garage band’s song Tender is the Trash saying it
was too raucous and unlike their previous songs.
a.
b.
4. Shakespeare the celebrated poet was criticized for his use of a red rose in one of
his sonnets.
a.
b.
5. The Wife of Bath the pilgrim who wept bitter tears of loneliness realized too late
that age had come to her bed and absconded with her beauty and her pith.
a.
b.
6. Thomas Jefferson’s book Crafting the Freedom of a Nation While Running
Monticello is reputed to assert that women are at their sweetest when they are
dependable, discreet, and never betray things they are told.
a.
b.
7. In the Pardoner’s Tale he Geoffrey Chaucer asserts the idea that greed is the root
of all evil.
a.
b.
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8. The Bubonic Plague a pestilence that swept through Europe in the 1300s killed
nearly two-thirds of the human population and over half of the livestock.
a.
b.
9. Joseph who was the son of Jacob warns the Pharaoh that his dreams signify
seven years of famine and pestilence.
a.
b.
10. In his novel The Grapes of Wrath The John Steinbeck wrote about the Dust Bowl
and Great Depression as though they were pestilence.
a.
b.
Part Two
Using the words bigamy, disparage, pith, assert, and pestilence, create 5 sentences
that use restrictive and nonrestrictive appositives. Underline and label the
appositives. Be sure to use commas to set off the appositives correctly.
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Summary of the Wife of Bath’s Tale
Before beginning her tale, the Wife of Bath relates a very long prologue in which she
relays the details of her marriages including how she uses seduction to get her way
with her men. She says that smart women want to be in control in a marriage, and
smart men will let them.
The tale she tells is about a knight living in King Arthur’s day. This knight breaks the
vows of chivalry by lusting after and then raping a maiden. She goes to the king for
justice, and he declares the knight must be executed. The queen intervenes in this
sentence and devises an alternate punishment for the knight. He has one year to walk
the land and discover what it is that women want most of all. If he can find the answer,
he will have his life. If he cannot find the answer, he will die. The knight agrees and
sets off in search of the answer. When the year is nearly up and he is no closer to an
answer, he comes upon an old hag who offers to trade the right answer
for a favor. The knight is in a bind, so he agrees. They go together to the court where
she tells him the answer, he tells the queen the answer, and the queen grants him his
freedom. The old hag then demands the knight keep his promise to her, and she
reveals that he must marry her. The knight tries to protest, but in the end, he is forced
to marry and they go to bed. That night the knight is brooding because he does not
want to be married to an old hag of questionable birth. She asks him pointedly why he
is upset, and they discuss the problem. Finally, she says that he
has a choice. He can either be married to an old woman who will be faithful forever, or
to a young woman who may betray him at any moment. By now the knight is weary
and gives in saying he will leave it to her to decide. This is exactly what she wants to
hear since the right answer to the queen’s question was that women want to be in
control rather than mastered by their husbands. Once the knight gives up control of
the marriage, his new old wife transforms into a beautiful young woman.
At the end of her tale, the Wife of Bath prays to Christ Jesus to always send women
husbands who are young and will allow themselves to be governed by their wives. She
adds that any husband who does not give in to his wife should have a shortened life.
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