Different readings of The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

Marxist approaches 

Marxists critics are concerned with relationships between power and class. They see authors, texts and the characters within narratives, as products of particular social and economic systems. 

Some of the ideas that might interest them about The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale include:

• The Wife as a middle-class woman challenging traditional ‘authority' based on religion
• The Wife as a middle-class woman challenging the notion of inherited nobility through the Old Woman's account of ‘gentilesse' in the tale
• The Wife as a merchant – a woman who understands the growing capitalist economic system in which she exists, increases her wealth, and commodifies many aspects of life – marriage, sex, her youth.

Psychological approaches 

Psychological approaches are concerned with complexity, conflicts and tensions within the text, author or characters.

Some of the ideas that might interest critics who pursue psychological approaches include:

• The Wife as a conflicted personality governed by both Mars and Venus - war and love
• The Wife as a victim of early sexual experience – married at tweleve
• The Wife of Bath's Tale as a story of wish-fulfilment (The Old Woman regains her youth and beauty. The rapist surrenders his desire for power.)
• The Wife of Bath's Tale as a story about the ‘feminisation' of the male
• Chaucer's / the Wife's inability to deliver a non ironic attack on misogyny. 

The Canterbury Tales as drama 

Critics interested in the dramatic quality of The Canterbury Tales are interested in the connections between the fictional pilgrims on the pilgrimage and the extent to which there is sustained debate between them as they journey to Canterbury.

Some of the ideas that might interest them about The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale include:

• The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale as part of a dramatic debate by the pilgrims about marriage in The Canterbury Tales. Other tales projected to be part of this ‘debate' include:
  • The Franklin's Tale
  • The Merchant's Tale
  • The Clerk's Tale
  • Some of the interchanges between the fictional pilgrims
• The idea that the tales are ‘dramatic' in the sense that they were intended to be read aloud for entertainment.

Feminist approaches 

Feminist critics are interested in the ways in which female characters are presented in texts, their feelings, ideas and opportunities. They also identify ways in which women in texts are misrepresented, or, silenced by male authors. They may also be interested in gender more generally, in the ways in which both men and women are disadvantaged by traditional gender stereotyping.

Some of the ideas that might interest them about The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale include:

• The Wife's voice in the text: a female narrator authored by a male (Prologue)
• The Wife's attack on anti-feminist or misogynist texts (Prologue)
• The Wife as a victim of a patriarchal society which forces her into manipulative strategies to get what she wants
• The silence of the raped young girl, and the reward of a beautiful wife for the rapist, in The Tale
• The way that the Wife relates to other women in The Prologue - ‘sisterhood' or just gossiping?
• The power exercised by women in the tale, e.g. the Queen and the Old Woman
• Issues about women's access to learning, opportunities and financial independence.

 

More on approaches to The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale:

If you want to explore essays which use these and other approaches, look at:

• Peter G Beidler's Geoffrey Chaucer The Wife of Bath (1996) Bedford Books, Boston and New York
• www.colfa.utsa.edu/chaucer - summarises academic papers on The Canterbury Tales which can be searched by individual tale. You can use this site to identify significant topics of debate. More ideas for your essays!

 

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