Study Questions for The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale

Study Questions for The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale Questions About Women and Femininity: 1. What stereotypes about women does the Wife reveal in her Prologue? 2. Does she agree with these stereotypes? Why or why not? 3. Does she represent these stereotypes? 4. What advice does the Wife of Bath have for wise women? 5. What does the Wife’s advice reveal about the status of women 6. What answer does the Wife give for stereotypes that present women as less reasonable/rational than men. 7. Does the Wife indicate that women are essentially powerless? 8. What are the similarities or differences between the representation of women in “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”? 9. According to the people the Knight finds on his quest, what do women desire? What do these desires suggest about women? 10. Does “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” reveal that women desire most to have power over their lovers? Or, does it reveal that women most desire that their lovers yield their power? Questions About Power: 1. Who holds power in "The Wife of Bath's Tale"? Do those who have power use it correctly? 2. How does power to the body in "The Wife of Bath's Tale"? 3. When and how do men have power? When and how do women have power? Consider the beginning and ending of the Tale. 4. Do women want power or love? Questions About Old Age: 1. In what ways are the elderly valuable to the young in "The Wife of Bath's Tale"? 3. In what ways does the tale mock the elderly? With what does the knight connect old age? Do you think his connections are fair? How does the loathly lady defend old age? Is her defense effective? 4. According to the Wife, what effect does old age have on men? On women? 5. How does the Wife use her old age to build her authority? 2. Questions About Poverty: 1. What is the loathly lady’s support for her argument that the poor are actually rich? Is her argument convincing? 2. According to the loathly lady, what benefits does poverty provide? 3. What is “glad” poverty? 4. What are the differences between the loathly lady's attitude toward poverty and the Wife of Bath's? What might account for these differences? Questions About Sex: 1. How does sex connect to money in the Wife of Bath's Prologue? 2. How does sex connect to power? 3. What is the purpose of sex, according to the Wife? 4. According to The Wife of Bath's Prologue, can we separate sex from power? Questions About Love: 1. How is love linked with money and economics in the Wife of Bath's Prologue? 2. What is the effect of this connection on the Wife's attitude toward love? 3. How does having money enable the Wife of Bath to find love? 4. How does the Wife's treatment of love compare with her treatment of sex? 5. How is love linked with power in the Wife of Bath's Prologue? 6. Does the Wife of Bath's leveraging of her love (or the appearance of her love) for money enable her to actually find love at the end of her life. Questions About Marriage: 1. Judging from her arguments, to whom is the Wife of Bath's defense of marriage addressed? 2. What might this audience have to say in response to her arguments? 3. What arguments does the Wife make in support of marriage? 4. How do these compare with her personal reasons for marrying? 5. According to the Wife of Bath's Prologue, what are a husband's obligations to his wife? What are a wife's obligations to her husband? 6. According to the Wife, has she fulfilled these obligations in her past marriages? 7. What do we learn from the Wife of Bath's Prologue about the arguments against marriage circulating during Chaucer's time? 8. Does the Wife of Bath's Prologue portray marriage as a great idea for women and a terrible one for men?