The Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Plot Summary
- Cast of Characters
- An Analysis of Major Characters
- Symbols and Themes
-
Summary and Analysis
- The General Prologue
- The Knight's Tale
- The Miller's Tale
- The Reeve's Tale
- The Cook's Tale
- The Man of Law's Tale
- The Wife of Bath's Tale
- The Friar's Tale
- The Summoner's Tale
- The Clerk's Tale
- The Merchant's Tale
- The Squire's Tale
- The Franklin's Tale
- The Physician's Tale
- The Pardoner's Tale
- The Shipman's Tale
- The Prioress' Tale
- The Tale of Sir Topas
- The Tale of Melibee
- The Monk's Tale
- The Nun's Priest's Tale
- The Second Nun's Tale
- The Canon Yeoman's Prologue and Tale
- The Manciple's Prologue and Tale
- The Parson's Tale
- Chaucer's Retraction
- Significant Quotations
- Key Facts
- Points to Ponder
- Discussion Questions
- Take The Quiz
- Further Reading
- Flashcards
- Biography of Geoffrey Chaucer
The Wife of Bath
The Wife of Bath is so named because her main accomplishment in life has been a series of five marriages, and she prides herself on her ability to marry well and then to control her husbands after her marriage. She believes that women want to be able to exercise control in their marriages and in their lives. She is one of the only secular women on the pilgrimage, and she is very ribald and lusty in comparison to the other women present. Furthermore, she is very well-traveled. She has been on a number of pilgrimages to other holy places, and while Canterbury may be an exotic destination for some of the travelers, it is a rather mundane destination for her. The Wife of Bath is also very wealthy, and she displays that wealth in her elaborate clothing. She is an accomplished seamstress, and comes from Bath, which was emerging as a major cloth-producing town. The notion is that she could be self-supporting, but that she also managed to make quite a bit of money through her series of marriages. Therefore, she presents a unique image of womanhood that helps complete the portrait of an English woman in the 14th century.
