Name: ______Date: ______

Topic:The Canterbury Tales

Assignment: Analysis: “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”

The Tale (pages 139-147)

  1. Lines 56-64: What horrible offense does the knight commit, and how is this ironic?
  1. Lines 65-69: What is the king’s reaction to such an act?
  1. Lines 70-74: What is the queen’s reaction? How does the king respond? Do you think this foreshadows anything?
  1. Lines 75-82: How does the queen handle the knight’s punishment? What is the question for which he must find an answer?
  1. Lines 83-88: How much time will she grant him to find the answer to this question?
  1. Lines 89-114: Chaucer has the Wife of Bath break off into a long digression at this point to depict how her mind works.
  1. Lines 115-127: What criticism of women does she offer?
  1. Lines 128-158: What is the purpose of her story about Midas?
  1. Lines 159-174: Who does the knight finally come across during his last day?
  1. Lines 175-198: What does the old woman ask of the knight in return for supplying him the answer he seeks?
  1. Lines 199-218: So, what is the answer to the “million-dollar” question?
  1. Lines 219-233: Now that his life has been spared, what does the old woman want from him?
  1. Lines 234-248: What is the knight’s response to this request?
  1. Lines 249-258: What tortures the knight the most about the old woman?
  1. Lines 270-279: The old woman sees how unhappy the knight is and asks him to reveal why. She will refute each of his complaints.
  1. Lines 274-279: Is the knight’s reaction to the old woman an example of direct or indirect characterization? What does it reveal about his character?
  1. Lines 280-352: Explain how the old woman refutes the knight’s claim that she is not of “gentle birth.”
  1. Lines 353-382: How does the old woman respond to the knight’s claim that she is poor?
  1. Lines 383-394: How does the old woman refute his claim that she is too old? What is a potential benefit of being old?
  1. Lines 395-403: Ultimately, what two choices does the old woman give the knight?
  1. Lines 404-411: What is the knight’s response? What is significant about line 407?
  1. Lines 412-425: Is the old woman happy about his answer? Explain.
  1. Lines 426-432: What happens to the “old” lady?
  1. Lines 433-440: What is ironic about the Wife of Bath’s ending to this story? Is there any irony here?
  1. Ultimately, what is the moral of her story?