The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is considered the foundation of English literature as it was one of the first works written in English. The stories follow a group of pilgrims traveling together who each tell tales to pass the time. One of the most vivid characters is the Wife of Bath, who uses her prologue to challenge stereotypes of women as lustful and uncontrolled. Her tale focuses on themes of power dynamics between men and women, justice, and the desire for control, especially in marriage. It presents a sympathetic view of female sexuality at a time when virginity was highly valued.

1. Week 7
Power
Point
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

2. The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is identified as “the foundation of the English poetic
tradition,” and Chaucer is seen as “a vital agent in the fourteenth-century
emergence of the vernacular [in this case, English] as a literary language.”
In short, as Chaucer and other writers abandon Latin for the language of their
own countries, a British national literature is born! (Norton 1847)

3. Story Format: Canterbury Tales
The
Canterbury
Tales is a
Frame Story
A group of diverse
pilgrims are traveling
to St. Thomas Becket’s
shrine at Canterbury,
and engage in a story
game to pass the time.
Each storyteller is a
recognizable figure
from the society
Chaucer knows, and
each one has an
individual personality.

4. The Wife of Bath
• “Wife” = “Woman” in this vernacular.
• She “is endowed with a vivid personality and a complex
inner life that she herself tells us all about” (Norton 1850).
• While in her Prologue she raises a challenge to the
negative stereotypes about women common in her day
(most of them perpetuated by male philosophers
belonging to a celibate clergy), her words may confirm the
stereotypes as much as refute them. Her main
characteristics are a desire for control and a hearty 🍆
sexual appetite.

5. The Wife of Bath’s Prologue – Themes
(Hint: It’s all about sex!)
1) Religious texts’ hostility toward women
2) The double standard when it comes to sex, and the distrust of female sexuality.
3) Virginity as an ideal, very much a part of theology and the social mores of
Chaucer’s world.
4) A frank celebration of sexual desire.
5) Power dynamics in marriage –or- “How To Get What You Want from a Rich
Husband.”

6. The Wife of Bath’s Tale -- Themes
Like Marie de France’s “Lanval,” this story is set during King Arthur’s time and tells the story
of a knight’s encounter with a supernatural woman who saves him when his life is in danger.
1. Power dynamics – rape. The knight takes away a woman’s choice and thus commits an act
of dishonor.
2. Justice – the Queen (much more sympathetic here than in “Lanval”) gives the knight a
punishment that fits his crime.
3. Natural vs Supernatural – Things are not what they seem.
4. Control – how to gain it, when to surrender it. Control, esp. in marriage, is what women
most desire (and the knight gets what he really wants when he surrenders it).