Notes on Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale

 

Wife – Dualism

 

Rebel                                                  Conservative

1381—taking over preacher, cf. l. 165  Carnivalesque – l. 192 “pleye”

Feminist – p. 118, l. 690                       Shrew – p. 112, ls. 455-469

Modern Philosopher                                      Lost sensualist – p. 116, l. 608

          – opening lines, also l. 124

 

Prologue

 

Genre  – a prologue, obviously, but also something of a confession and a sermon; she tells us more about her life than anyone else – she talks a lot.

 

Three-part Structure of Prologue

 

  1. Argument for multiple marriage – opening to l. 192
  2. Description of multiple husbands – l. 193-.503
  3. Life with Jankin – l. 503 or 627 to the end.

 

Interruptions

          Pardoner – l. 163

          Friar and Summoner

 

Bawdy Language – “nether purse”; belle chose; sely instrument; quoniam; venus chamber

 

Psychological Nuance of her Character

 

“Tickleth me” – l. 469 – there is a wistful, even sentimental romantic side to her character.  (This is told between descriptions of husbands 4 and 5.)

 

Dominant Themes

          “Battle of the Sexes”  -- Role of women; church, love, governance – summed up in Kittredges’ famous “Marriage Argument” excerpted in our textbook.

 

Tale (perhaps originally assigned the Shipman’s Tale, much more like the bawdy and aggressive side of the Wife, but this one fits her sentimental side.)

 

Genre – a romance, surprisingly

 

Three-Part Structure of Tale

 

  1. Anti-fraternal introduction and rape.
  2. Quest for the answer to what every woman desires
  3. Marriage night – curtain lecture on age, poverty, and “natural gentilesse”
    1. Sentimental Conclusion

 

Dominant Themes

          “Battle of the Sexes” – Role of women; church, love, governance – summed up in Kittredge’s famous “Marriage Argument” excerpted in our textbook (page 539).

 

On the dramatic principle: The Wife of Bath is seen as one of the most sophisticated of the psychologically motivated principles of tale-telling and the notion of the Hag as a projection of the Wife into her tale, including its wish-fulfillment fantasy ending is often cited as evidence.

 

Friar and Sommoner

 

These tales are dramatically motivated because these two characters get in an argument at the end of the Wife’s Tale and decide to then tell a tale about each other, so we have two expose tales, two muckraker tales, but the twist is that they are told with such vituperative intent that the action redounds upon the teller.

 

Friar’s Prologue and Tale

 

Prologue – very brief, but clearly designed to target the Summoner; however, he does respond to the Wife in a way that clearly let’s us know that Chaucer has designed the Wife’s prologue to in some ways challenge clerical authority.

 

Also, remember from the General Prologue that the Friar has a special relationship with women and young wives.

 

The Tale

 

Genre – The tale is a comedy, sometimes referred to as a fabliau – “the trickster tricked” – and also as an extended exemplum or parable.

 

Structure – It is basically in two parts: The first tells us the relationship between the archdeacon and the summoner and the summoner’s methods; the second part (beginning on p. 133, line 1375) tells the story of the encounter with a devil.

 

Theme – Of course the major theme is complain about corrupt clergy, particularly summoners, by an order that is exempt from their jurisdiction and may be able to provide some objective criticism.

 

The second theme though may have to do with the issue of the function of language and fiction in that the discussion of words versus intent is foregrounded.  The tale of the carter and his horses (p. 137) is a clear mini-exemplum of this case.  The fact that the summoner, who is all about disguise and is disguised now, is more focused on the externals of the shape shifter than the meaning of them indicates how lost he is spiritually and so condemns himself by refusing to repent (p. 139, line 1630).  The shrewd summoner who tricks people out of their money is thus tricked out of his soul.  This same theme then reveals how the Friar condemns himself by not understanding his own intent.

 

Summoner’s Prologue and Tale

 

Prologue – Like the Friar’s prologue, this one is very brief but enough to establish him as driven by ire, which of course, becomes part of the subject of his tale, but the prologue is memorable for the brilliant but disgusting little exemplum on the place of friars in Hell.

 

Tale

 

Genre – This one clearly is a fabliau, though much more elaborate than most and recalling the development of the Miller’s Tale and the reflection upon learning, the “ars-metric.”

 

Structure – This one may be said to have three parts: one, a brief introduction to the manner of fraternal fund raising; two, the episode with Thomas, which itself is multi-structured including the lecture on tithing and ire; and three, the solving of the puzzle in the lord’s house.

 

Themes – There is the political critique of friars here quite obviously, and a bit of class bias as the people in the lord’s house are so condescendingly delighted at the churl’s gift, but nonetheless compliment.  The larger ones though are again the use of language, fiction, and actually religious office or functions, in this case, the confession, in the Friar’s tale it is the application of canon law or church law.  Here Friar John reveals his love of glossing, which is slang for lying, and lies most egregiously about Thomas’ wife’s dead son (p. 144) and then goes on to glose away to Thomas in order to extract money from him.  Therefore, when he does get the gift and is forced to part it in twelve he is flummoxed because he can’t seem to dislodge the figurative from the literal.

 

Structure of Fragment III

 

Structure – one long tale, a romance, followed by two shorter fabliaux.

 

Themes – many of the GP themes are touched on here:

 

love and marriage in WBT but quickly becomes spiritual love or the corruption thereof;

pilgrimage and governance seem to be turned upside down by the Wife, but the greater corruptions of the Friar and Summoner render the Wife’s tale much more positive;

the literary contest theme is greatly expanded by an elaboration on the earnest and game issue;

          earnest        game

          sentence      solas

          wheat           chaff

          spirit            letter

          expression    intent

 

Fragment to Fragment Reflection:

          When we compare the two fragments we might be able to illuminate the meaning further:

I: Pagan tale of love, followed by two Christian tales that show the pagan to be superior – not an endorsement of pagan but a criticism of contemporary Christianity

 

II: Female faux preacher, followed by two actual preachers that show the faux to be more real – not an endorsement of female preachers but a criticism of contemporary preachers.