The Wife of Bath’s Tale

How is this narrator different to the one in the prologue?

In The Wife of Bath’s Tale prologue the narrator is homodiegetic (she’s talking about herself) and
overt (she’s all the time interrupting her own narrative, talking to others).

Narrator: Heterodiegetic (the narrator is the Wife of Bath but she doesn’t play a role in this tale).
Overt: digressions, comments (line 31, ‘if you ask me’ she gives her own opinion).

Disgressions: line 949, she interrupts her story to tell another one. She tells the story of King
Midas to say that women can’t keep secrets. Is there a connection with this and the Wife of Bath’s
prologue? Line 538.

Focalization: Narrator focalizes (in all cases). They are limited focalizers as they don’t know
everything. In most cases they are characters of the main stories.

Is the setting contemporary to the narrative? No, she places her tale in a distant past (explicitly
distant setting). To what sort of narratives is this setting similar to? That of fairy tales.

Setting: Many years ago, during King Arthur’s reign. He’s a frequent character in medieval
Romances. By setting her tale in Arthur’s days, the wife signals to her audience to expect a
Romance, and thus, knights, noble ladies (and expect certain behavior from them) and
supernatural incidents. We expect the knight to be a force for justice and order in the tale and to
be honourable and protect women. We are given a setting we recognize but we are immediately
confused by behavior we don’t expect.

Are there any magical aspects?

Line 996: How is it that the other women disappear? At the beginning of the Tale we’ve been told
to expect fairies. Lines 864 to 880, fairies and elves.

Fairies can’t no longer be seen as friars ‘have made sure no longer are there fairies’. Why? ‘Now
women may go safely (…) He is the only incubus, and he won’t do a thing except dishonor them’
(lines 878-880). She bales the friars for this. Christianity brought pagan things to an end.

Who are the character’s in this story?

 King Arthur: limited role

 Queen
 Knight
  Old lady

The maiden doesn’t seem to be a character as she has no voice. Why doesn’t she take any active
role? She was just a maiden (social class). She has no saying in all these matters.

How do you feel about the Queen’s behavior? The king was ready to execute the knight but
then he grants his wife the power to decide whether to kill the knight or not. Do we have roles
like this in traditional fairy tales?

The Queen forgives him with the agreement of the ladies of the court, probably because he’s a
knight. This is weird because women should feel more strongly against rape.

How is this connected to the Wife of Bath’s prologue? The Queen has power and control. In
this couple the Queen is the one who makes decisions.

The knight goes on a quest (feature of Romances) to save his life. He has to discover what women
want. When he asks them, what answers does he get? Money, rich array=clothes, honour, jolly,
to be widow and remarried, delight in bed. Who seems to be providing these answers? The
narrator, the Wife of Bath.

What picture of women is created? Women are materialistic, superficial and in control. This is
the Wife of Bath’s idea of women but generally speaking, this is men’s idea of women in a
patriarchal society. This is a medieval text, there are stereotypes.

On the wedding night the old lady wants the consummation of the marriage. What is the
response of the knight? He doesn’t want to consummate their marriage because she’s old, ugly
and she lacks nobility (because she’s of humble birth).

What’s the old lady’s response?

 Nobility is not a question of birth but a question of virtue, a question of what you do. She’s
virtuous and the knight is not.
 Why isn’t poverty a problem? There’s nothing to be ashamed of. The people who are
constantly yearning for more are never satisfied. But if you are satisfied with what you
have then you are not poor. Is there any reference to this in The Wife of Bath’s prologue?
(line 330)
 Being ugly? That way she won’t be seduced by any other man, so he won’t be a cuckold.
Is there any reference to this in The Wife of Bath’s prologue? (line 253)
 What about old age? It’s associated with wisdom.
How can this be compare to chivalry? According to the code a knight should be merciful. This
knight does not help those in need, he’s aggressive.

 Courage: Ability to stand in the face of fear. He doesn’t show courage, he cannot
overcome his fears, he’s a coward.
 Justice: He’s not just with the maiden she raped. He’s not just to his wife either. This is
associated with honour. Is honour a question of birth or virtue? Once he saves his life, he
doesn’t want to keep his word, he doesn’t want to get married. This is not what an
honourable person would do.
 Temperance: He lacks temperance, he raped a girl so he doesn’t have self-control.
 Wisdom: He’s not wise in terms of transcendental or practical wisdom. He doesn’t know
how to achieve his goals, he’s not creative.
 Benevolence: He’s self centred and he doesn’t care for his wife. A benevolent person is
‘a person who tends to care about other human beings, is generally concerned about other
people’s well-being, and is motivated to perform acts which are aimed at doing good’
 Courtesy: He insults his wife, he doesn’t cultivate the rules of etiquette.
 Prowess: we don’t get to see this.

This knight’s behavior exhibits exactly the opposite to the Code of Chivalry.

So, why is it that Chaucer creates a character like this? Why does the knight behave in the
opposite way?

This is a text that belongs to the last part of the Middle Ages. It deviates from the conventions of
the genre. It’s not just another Romance. This text is different to the typical medieval text, it’s not
anonymous. Though it is to be listened to, it’s written. It’s not impersonal but subjective.

After presenting all her arguments, what does the old lady say to her husband? She says
that he can have her ugly and poor but loyal or young and beautiful but coquettish and unfaithful.
As he cannot choose, he tells her he trusts her judgement so she should decide. How is this
answer connected to the prologue’s idea?

The knight’s answer gave the woman what she most desired: the power to choose.

What happens then? She experiences a metamorphosis, she becomes beautiful and young and
they live happily ever after. How is this connected to the Wife of Bath’s prologue? The
outcome is the same: a happy marriage. How is this connected to the Wife of Bath’s desires?
She’s expressing her desire of magically becoming young again as she cannot achieve this in
real life.

What about the themes? Marriage (relationships), social differences, the quest, women’s roles
and stereotypes.