Reaction to the Wife's Tale

In The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale is followed by The Friar's Tale. In his Prologue, the Friar acknowledges that the Wife has spoken well of many things. However, perhaps stung by her sarcasm about friars at the start of her Tale (l.855, 864-80), he warns her to leave the citing of authorities to learned scholars and clergy. The woman ‘preacher' is thus given a firm put down. 

The Friar then moves on to introduce his tale about a Summoner, as the interchange in l. 829-49 indicated he would. No good, he claims, can be said about a Summoner. The Summoner replies in kind and the Host, once more, has to restore peace.

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