The Wife of Bath

by Geoffrey Chaucer

Overview

The Wyves Tale of Bathe and prologue are among the best-known of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. They give insight into the role of women in the Late Middle Ages and are probably of interest to Chaucer himself, for the character is one of his most developed ones, with her prologue twice as long as her tale. She holds her own among the bickering pilgrims, and evidence in the manuscripts suggests that although she was first assigned a different, plainer tale-

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617206252
Publisher:	Wilder Publications
Publication date:	01/28/2012
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	806,980
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.20(d)

Table of Contents

About the Series
About This Volume

PART I. THE WIFE OF BATH: THE COMPLETE TEXT

Biographical and Historical Contexts

Introduction to the Text

The Complete Text
Description of the Wife of Bath from the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
The Prologue to the Wife of Bath's Tale The Wife of Bath's Tale

PART II. THE WIFE OF BATH: A CASE STUDY IN CONTEMPORARY CRITICISM

A Critical History of the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

New Historicism and the Wife of Bath
What Is New Historicism?
New Historicism: A Selected Bibliography A New Historicist Perspective:
Lee Patterson, "Experience woot well is it noght so": Marriage and the Pursuit of Happiness in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

Marxist Criticism and the Wife of Bath
What Is Marxist Criticism?
Marxist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography A Marxist Perspective:
Laurie Finke, "All is for to selle": Breeding Capital in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

Psychoanalytic Criticism and the Wife of Bath
What Is Psychoanalytic Criticism?
Psychoanalytic Criticism: A Selected Bibliography A Psychoanalytic Perspective:
Louise O. Fradenburg, "Fulfild of fairye": The Social Meaning of Fantasy in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

Deconstructive Criticism and the Wife of Bath
What Is Deconstruction?
Deconstruction: A Selected Bibliography A Deconstructionist Perspective:
H. Marshall Leicester, Jr., "My bed was ful of verray blood": Subject, Dream, and Rape in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

Feminist Criticism and the Wife of Bath
What Is Feminist Criticism?
Feminist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography A Feminist Perspective:
Elaine Tuttle Hansen, "Of his love daungerous to me": Liberation, Subversion, and Domestic Violence in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

Glossary of Critical and Theoretical Terms

About the Contributors