ENGC29 Lecture 10: 6.1 The Wife of Baths Prologue

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Gabsters B

10 Feb 2016

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Professor

6.1 “The Wife of Bath”

Background

● theWifeisreminiscentoftheAristotleandPhyllisstory

○ legendgoesthatthegreatphilosopherAristotlewasonceovercomebylustforawomannamed

Phyllis

■ Phyllissaysshe’llsleepwithhimonlyifheshowshisdevotionbylettingherridehimlike

ahorse

■ famousimageawisemanincontroloftheworlddrivenmadbylust

■ apparentlyAristotleusetotellthisstorytohispupils;moralofthestoryisstayawayfrom

women

● whywouldChaucerremindusofthis?

○ youcantaketheimageofthewomanridingthemanintwowayseitherthewomanis

empoweredortostayawayfromwomenlikeher

○ theWifeplaysaroundwiththisdualimageryandhowpeopleperceiveher

● whydoesfashionmatter?

○ fashionasawaytogeneratecommentaryandreactionhasaneffectontheworld

○ fashioncanpotentiallybeselfexpressioncanshowwhotheyarebutisalsoaperformanceof

theperson

○ expressesyourselfinaforcefulwayforcesyoutopayattention(likehowtheWife’shatishuge

andimposing)

○ fashioncanalsobeusedasastatementorareference

● connectionbetweenclothingandstories:

○ theword“text”and“textile”historicalembeddingoftheword

○ bothwordscomefromtheLatintexere



=toweave,toplaytogether,toconnecttogether

○ thinkabouthowatextlikeTheCanterburyTales



canweavestoriestogether

Prologue

The Wife and Authority

● Wifesaysshehasplentyofexperienceinmarriage,andthereforeshe’sthehighestauthorityinthe

woesofmarriage

○ what‘authority’means:Latinisthelanguageofauthority;assuch,theBibleisthegreatest

authoritytouseinwriting(sinceit’soneoftheoldesttextsinLatin)

○ it’samodeofargumentationyouquotetheBibletomakeapoint

● theWifewouldbeworkinginthevernacular,soshe’ssayingshedoesn’tneedtheBibleasauthorityon

marriage

○ butthenimmediatelyreferencestheBibleandauthority

● explainsshehad5marriagesinherlife

○ arguedthatthisisn’tbadbecauseeventhoughJesuswenttoonewedding,thatdoesn’tmean

hesaidyoushouldonlygetmarriedonce

○ ‘waxnose’reasoningofthemedievalage:takingapassageandtwistingittoyourargument

● glosses:writteninthemarginofthetext(exampleonpg.146)

○ inCT



ithasLatintranslationsofthepassagesthattheWifeisquoting

○ editoralsoexplainsthecontextofthequote

○ canalsohelptrackdownreferencesinthetext

○ sometimeswouldhavehandspointingtopassagesintext

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ENGC29 Lecture 10: 6.1 The Wife of Baths Prologue

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