For Wednesday: Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Tale"

Answer TWO of the following for next class:

Q1: In a way, the Wife opens her poem much in the same way the Gawain poet opens his, with a description of the natural wonders of Camelot. But what makes her prelude somewhat different? What does she want us to see about the world of "good olde days" England? Was Camelot really a chivalric utopia? 

Q2: The Wife's Tale satirizes chivalry in much the same way that Gawain does, though from a different perspective. What makes her Tale somewhat sharper, and less forgiving, than Sir Gawain? Do you think her knight fails worse than Gawain does?

Q3: The Wife's Tale in some ways sounds just like the stereotypical stories about shrewish wives that Medieval literature loved to tell themselves (see the post about the Prologue for two excerpts of these poems). Why do you think Chaucer had the Wife tell a somewhat traditional story about knights and Camelot, rather than a story about Alisons and Absalons? Is she purposely telling the 'wrong' story? Or the right one? 

Q4: At the very end of the story, instead of sleeping with the Old Woman as he promised, the knight laments that "You're so old, and abominably plain,/So poor to start with, so low-bred to follow;/It's little wonder if I twist and wallow!" How does the Old Woman respond to his misgivings, and how do we know that this is The Wife herself speaking here (and maybe just behind her, Chaucer)?