Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale"

Paper Summary:

The paper examines the characters in "The Wife of Bath's Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer and the themes of deception and duality which are brought about by these characters. The paper shows how Chaucer uses images to accentuate the theme of duality such as the knight and hag, and the ease with which love becomes violence, youth becomes age, ugliness becomes beauty and wrong becomes right.

From the Paper:

"The contrast between youth and age is the second instance of my thesis. he hag and the Wife are past their youth; the knight and Jankyn are young, virile and attractive. A common device of the Middle Ages is the memento mori, the remembrance of the inevitability of death. The skeleton confronts the revelers: "As I was, so ye are; as I am, so ye shall be." The hag becomes young and desirable, a transformation which could have been a two-edged sword; she now could be desired by others, and only through trust in her integrity will the knight be able to rest assured that she is his alone."

More papers on Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale":

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• Book Review # 122340 : "The Wife of Bath"
• Analytical Essay # 16232 : "Sovereinetee" in "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale"

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