The Wife of Bath's Tale
E947388
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" is one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, a Middle English narrative in which a loquacious, worldly wife tells a story exploring female sovereignty, marriage, and gender roles.
Observed surface forms (1)
| Surface form | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Wife of Bath | 1 |
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Arthurian romance
ⓘ
Canterbury Tale ⓘ Middle English narrative poem ⓘ frame tale episode ⓘ |
| author | Geoffrey Chaucer NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| contrastsWith | The Clerk's Tale NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | England ⓘ |
| embeddedStoryType | exemplum ⓘ |
| featuresCharacter |
King Arthur
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Queen Guinevere NERFINISHED ⓘ old hag ⓘ unnamed knight ⓘ |
| fictionalNarrator | Alisoun NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| firstPersonFrame | Wife of Bath GENERATED ⓘ |
| follows | The Clerk's Tale NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| form | rhymed couplets ⓘ |
| genre |
courtly romance parody
ⓘ
fabliau-influenced romance ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
courtly love conventions
ⓘ
medieval romance ⓘ |
| keyMotif |
loathly lady
ⓘ
marital contract ⓘ quest for knowledge ⓘ transformation ⓘ |
| language | Middle English ⓘ |
| literaryMovement | Middle English literature ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod | Middle Ages NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| literaryTradition |
Arthurian legend
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
loathly lady tradition ⓘ |
| mainTheme |
female sovereignty
ⓘ
gender roles ⓘ marriage ⓘ power dynamics in relationships ⓘ what women most desire ⓘ |
| meter | iambic pentameter (in modern pronunciation) ⓘ |
| moral |
Mutual respect and granting power can lead to harmony in marriage.
ⓘ
Women desire sovereignty over their husbands and lovers. ⓘ |
| narrator | Wife of Bath NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| notableAspect |
early exploration of female agency in Western literature
ⓘ
ironic treatment of chivalry and courtly ideals ⓘ |
| partOf | The Canterbury Tales NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| plotSummary |
A knight who rapes a maiden is condemned to death but is given a year and a day to discover what women most desire in order to save his life.
ⓘ
An old woman provides the correct answer to the knight in exchange for marriage, then transforms into a young, faithful wife when he grants her sovereignty. ⓘ |
| precedes | The Friar's Tale NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| relatedWork | The Wife of Bath's Prologue NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| setting |
Britain
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
King Arthur's court NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| studiedIn |
English literature curricula
ⓘ
medieval literature courses ⓘ |
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
The Wife of Bath