The Wife of Bath`s Prologue in Chaucer`s Canterbury Tales

Seminar paper from the year 2000 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0 (A), Justus-Liebig-University Giessen (Institute for Anglistics), course: Seminar: Chaucer, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction Alison, the Wife of Bath, is one of the most interesting characters in Chaucer‘s Canterbury Tales. Her tale and her prologue to this tale are different from the other tales since here the narrator is obviously more important than the tale itself: The prologue is about twice as long as the tale itself, considerably longer than any of the other prologues to individual tales. Of Chaucer‘s 29 pilgrims, only three are female. The fact that it is being told from the female point of view is crucial both to the Wife of Bath‘s prologue and to her. The main topic of her prologue is marriage and how women should deal with their husbands. Alison displays many characteristics which were ascribed to the stereotypical `wicked woman‘ in Chaucer‘s times and her prologue is supposed to be the typical opinion of women. However, there is more to the Wife of Bath than that. Chaucer creates a very complex individual who is the topic of the following discussion. [...]