Page 108 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

Unit 11: The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (Non-detailed Study): Discussion and Analysis-III

11.5 Review Questions Notes

1. How does constance come to wed king Aella?
2. Describe the underlying theological theme of the Man of Law’s tale.
3. Describe the events that lead constance from joy to despair to joy and so on.
4. Name two arguments that the wife uses in her defense of the married state.
5. In what way her fourth and fifth husbands different from first three?

Answers: Self Assessment
1. He agrees to become a Christian.
2. The Sultan is murdered by his mother who also casts constance off in a rudderless ship.
3. The virtuous wife who endures all tribulations and trials.
4. Those women were sexually very lax while constance is chaste and virtuous.
5. Repetition is employed extensively.
6. The wife of bath was 12, when she first married.
7. The feud between the Friar and the Summoner.
8. A cross between a folktale and a romance.
9. He has ravished (rape) a young maiden.
10. It concerns a young man marrying an old woman.

11.6 Further Readings

The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales — Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales — Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer — Harold Bloom

Online links http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmCanterbury02.asp
http://www.bookrags.com/notes/ct/index.html

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 101