Page 105 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

British Poetry

Notes fast and hit her on the head with his fist, knocking her to the floor, where she lay as if dead. “Hastow
slayn me, false theef?” the Wife bellow when she awoke, “and for my land thus hastow mordred
me?” (Have you killed me, false thief? And have you murdered me to get my land?”). Jankin, of
course, then begged her forgiveness; and the Wife made him burn his book right there.
Having gained for herself all of the “maistrie” (mastery, control, dominance), Jankin then begged
her to keep all of her own land, and–after that day–they never argued again. The Wife was true to
him, and he to her, and she was extremely generous to him. At this point, the Wife announces again
that she is to tell her tale.

11.2.2 The Words between the Summoner and the Friar

The Friar laughs to hear everything that the Wife has said, commenting that it is a “long preamble of
a tale” (a long prologue to a tale)–and when the Summoner hears the Friar’s voice, he attacks him,
commenting that friars are notorious for their long-windedness, telling him to “go sit doun!”.

The Friar promises, in revenge, to tell a tale about a summoner to make everyone laugh.
The Host quiets them down, and encourages the Wife to tell her tale.

11.2.3 The Wife of Bath’s Tale Text

The Wife of Bath’s Tale tells a story from a distant time, when King Arthur ruled the nation and when
elves used to run around impregnating women. However, the Wife immediately digresses: now friars
have taken the place of elves-they are now the copulating, evil spirits.
King Arthur had a knight who, when riding home one day from hawking, found a maiden walking
alone and raped her. This crime usually held the penalty of death, but, in court, the queen intervened
and begged her husband to spare the knight, promising the knight that she would grant his life if he
could answer the question “What do women most desire?” She gave him one year to find the answer.
The knight went on a journey but could find no satisfactory answer; some said wealth, others jollity,
some status, others a good lover in bed. Despondent that he might not find his answer, the knight
was mournful, when, riding beside a forest on his way back to his home, he saw a dance of twenty-
four ladies. Approaching them, they vanished, and in their place, the knight found a hideous old
woman, the “lothly lady”, to whom he put his question. She agreed to give the answer and assured
him that it was the right one, but would only tell him the answer if he would do the next thing that
she required of him. When the knight agreed, she whispered in his ear.
When they arrived at court, the knight faced the queen again, and told him that women desired to
have sovereignty and “to been in maistrie” (to be in mastery) above their husbands. The lothly lady
then spoke up before the court, announcing the knight’s pledge, and asking him to take her for his
wife. The knight, although now pardoned, was miserable that he had to marry such an old crone,
but there was no way for him to get out of it.
Privately, the knight wedded the lothly lady the next day, and the two of them lay in bed. She
realized his unhappiness, and confronted him about it. He criticized her for not only being old and
ugly, but low-born. She scoffed at his snobbery as a definition and defended her poverty as irrelevant
to God. She then gave him a choice, making him see both sides of the argument. Either he could
have her as an old and ugly wife who would be entirely faithful to him; or he could have her as a
young and fair wife, who would probably cuckold him.

How does the ending of the story reconcile with the wife’s philosophy?

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