Critical approaches to The Wife of Bath

There are as many approaches to a text as there are readers. The values and areas of concern that different readers have brought to the texts have changed over time, and continue to change as:

• Literary studies changes as a discipline
• New areas of study become significant
• New historical research brings more information to the background and context of The Canterbury Tales. 

The aim of this section is to give you some approaches to the text which you can use to stimulate ideas for your essays.