The Wife of Bath: Depiction in the General Prologue

Chaucer: The Wife of Bath's Tale

In this course, we explore the Wife of Bath’s Tale and Prologue in Chaucer’s in Canterbury Tales. In the first module, we consider the presentation of the Wife of Bath in the General Prologue, thinking about the extent to which the Wife of Bath is presented as a comedic figure. After that, we focus on the Wife of Bath as a ‘reader’ and interpreter of written texts, thinking in particular about what it means for Chaucer to show an uneducated woman with no access to literacy or scholarly discourse attempting to engage with written authority. In the third module, we explore the Wife of Bath’s Tale itself, before thinking about her Tale in the context of other Tales in the Canterbury Tales, particularly the ‘Marriage Group’, but also the Parson’s Tale and the Tale of Melibee. In the final module, we think about the Medieval and Post-Medieval afterlife of the Wife of Bath – her presentation by writers such as Thomas Hoccleve, William Lydgate, and John Skelton, as well as in the ballad ‘The Wanton Wife of Bath’.

The Wife of Bath: Depiction in the General Prologue

In this module, we think at the physical description of the Wife of Bath that Chaucer gives us in the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. In particular, we ask: to what extent is the Wife of Bath presented as a comedic figure through her embodiment in the General Prologue? Are we encouraged to perceive her embodiment as funny, and do we?