SATIRE IN CHAUCER’S
WIFE OF BATH
WHO’S TALKING?
 Chaucer the Pilgrim
• The character who is on the journey, traveling with the group.
• He can be blamed for anything controversial he says.
• The narrator of the story.
 Chaucer the Poet
• The man behind all of the tales.
• Which of his pilgrim’s views can we assume are his own?
• He can hide behind “Chaucer the Pilgrim”
WOB: ACCORDING TO
CHAUCER THE PILGRIM
 Somewhat deaf.
 Widely set apart teeth
 Skilled in cloth-making.
 Large hips; skirt covering
 1st to offering at church.
 Married 5 husbands.
• Would get angry if someone went
ahead; lost charity for her neighbor.
 Other women scared of her.
 Flashy dress
• Heavy head cover; huge hat; scarlet
red stockings; new shoes; sharp
spurs
• Not counting other company in her
youth.
 3 religious pilgrimages.
• Jerusalem
 Traveled many exotic places
 Knew how to laugh and chatter;
 Bold facial features
sociable
 Red coloring (hair and skin, fair)
 Knew about love’s remedies
CHAUCER VS. CHURCH
 The views of the church fathers are incredibly black and white and
very rigid, which make them either:
• A) Easy to criticize and satirize because they are so extreme.
• B) To be taken very seriously because of how strict they are and how
influential they were.
• Some evidence even suggests that a woman’s submission to her husband
was written in medieval law.
GUIDING QUESTION
Is the Wife of Bath an object of satire or an instrument of it?
 Object: Antifeminist View
• Warning against what happens when women gain power; a monster is created.
Women will use their sexual powers for nothing but harm.
 Instrument: Feminist View
• Exposes the absurdity of the strict views of marriage, sex, and gender roles held by
the “authorities” of the time; exposes the absurdity of their fear of women taking
power through an extreme, unrealistic example
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
 Has Chaucer created a monster by bringing the antifeminist tradition to life in The
Wife of Bath? Or, does Chaucer refute that tradition by showing the absurdity of the
antifeminist fear?
 The Wife of Bath claims that “experience” is a better guide to truth than learned
“authorities.” Is there any evidence that Chaucer believes this and is thereby giving us
ready to question the authorities?
 Has he assembled all the authorities cited in the “Prologue” in order to
demonstrate their shortcomings? Or does the Wife expose her own moral deficiencies
in her effort to dismiss them? (In other words, is this a caution against not taking the
authorities seriously? Or is this an affirmation that there ARE problems with their
thinking?)
THE WIFE OF BATH: IS SHE
CONVINCING?
 With a partner, you will read and analyze The Wife of Bath’s arguments in her
prologue. You should locate 8 arguments of the Church Fathers and 8 counterarguments of The Wife of Bath. Cut out the 8 arguments of each and glue them
in the appropriate categories. Then you will summarize the argument and decide
who you think is more convincing.