The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale
1. When is this tale set? (i.e., during the mythic
reign of what king?)
During the reign of King Arthur
2. According to the Wife of Bath, why can't
people see elves any more? What has driven
them out of their natural habitat?
The existence of friars and other
religious people has caused the elves
to disappear.
3. What does the Wife of Bath mean when she
states, "There is no other incubus than he
[the friar]"?
He is posing as a religious man, but
he is really evil.
4. What happens to the maid riding alone
through the woods?
She is raped by the Knight.
5. What crime does the lusty bachelor commit?
What is "maidenhead"? [Hint: This does not
mean he decapitated the girl, as some
students have mistakenly declared.]
The Knight takes her virginity from
her.
6. What is the initial punishment King Arthur
orders for the knight? Who intervenes and
requests a special trial?
He orders the knight to be
decapitated. The ladies of the court
intervene.
7. Who is in charge of this special trial for the
rapist knight?
The Queen and the ladies of the court.
8. What must the knight do to save his head
(i.e., what mission does the court give him)?
He must go out for a year and a day to
find the answer to “what is it that
women want most?”
9. How long does the Knight have to fulfill this
mission? How is this similar or different than
the time alloted to Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight?
He has a year and a day…same
amount of time as Sir Gawain.
10. What problem does the Knight find when he
starts asking women what the want?
All the women want something
different.
11. What are some of the responses given by
women when he asks them the question?
They want money, love, riches, fame,
freedom, remarriage.
12. What strange sight does the knight see while
riding through the forest on his return
journey?
He sees a group of women dancing in
the woods.
13. What do the twenty-four women do or what
happens to them as the knight approaches?
They disappear and only a hag
remains.
14. What does the Old Hag say she wants in
return for providing the answer to the
knight's riddle? (Hint: She doesn't tell the
knight she wants to marry him.)
She wants him to pledge himself to
her and give her whatever she asks.
15. What are the Queen and the court's reactions
to the knight's answer?
When he tells them that women want
to be the one in control in a
relationship, the women
wholeheartedly agree.
16. What are the wedding celebrations like when
the knight marries the hag? (trick question!)
Married in a small private wedding
and go to bed that night quietly.
17. What does the hag teach the young knight
about nobility in her lecture? What makes a
person "noble" or "gentle" according to her?
That nobility comes from within and
doesn’t matter how much money or
status your family has.
18. What defense does the hag provide for her
poverty and her ugliness? Why are these
advantages, according to her?
Her wealth comes from being happy
and wanting nothing in life.
19. What two options does the hag present to the
knight?
He can either remain married to her
ugly and loyal or beautiful and
disloyal.
20. Which of these two options does the knight
pick (trick question!)
He tells her to choose.
21. How does the hag's appearance change at the
end of the story?
She turns beautiful and chooses to be
loyal and kind.