John A. Ferguson Senior High School



Collections Grade 12 Guiding Questions Collection 2“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey ChaucerLines 1–28: What lines from this passage indicate the relationship between the Wife of Bath and the Friar?Lines 4–11: Describe the tone of the conversation between the Friar and the Summoner. How do these exchanges affect the portrayals of the pilgrims?Lines 55–72: What aspects of the Wife’s narrative style appear in the first part of the tale? What do these elements of her style suggest about her character?Line 79: What does this line suggest about the Wife’s tale? Lines 93–130: Summarize the knight’s experience as he travels the land asking people what women want most. What does this part of the tale tell you about the Wife of Bath herself?Lines 126–130: How do you know the Wife is educated? Why do you think Chaucer gave his Wife of Bath this trait?Lines 153–156: Do the Wife’s traits as revealed in this passage make her a likable character? Why or why not? Lines 163–175: What would you predict about the Wife’s tale based on the scene described in these lines? How might the Wife’s inclusion of this passage be interpreted as an insult to the Friar?Lines 176–178: Explain how these lines might be interpreted in reference to the Wife herself.Lines 179–196: How does the Wife use foreshadowing in this part of her tale? What is the effect of this foreshadowing on readers?Lines 211–216: What universal idea does the knight’s answer relate to?Lines 220–245: Describe the contrast between the knight’s attitude toward the old woman earlier in the tale (lines 179–197) and his attitude now (lines 220–245). What does the knight’s behavior in this passage reveal about his character? What might the knight’s changed attitude toward the old woman suggest about human nature?Lines 247–271: Explain the purpose of this digression from her tale.Lines 257–271: Describe the Wife’s attitude toward aristocrats as revealed through what the old woman says in these lines.Lines 272–286: Explain the irony of the knight’s calling the old woman “low-bred” in the context of this passage.Lines 287–298: What is the definition of true nobility, according to the old woman? What details from the text support this definition?Lines 345–364: Explain the old woman’s function in the tale based on her speech to the knight. Why does Chaucer make her speech so long?Lines 381–392: Why is the narrator’s focus on the old woman rather than the knight in this part of the tale?Lines 402–409: Why is this the turning point of the tale? What can be inferred about the knight from what he says in these lines?Lines 424–430: What message is implied by the old woman’s transformation into a young, beautiful woman?Lines 431–438: What does this last stanza of the poem reveal about the Wife of Bath? What details support these conclusions? ................
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