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"Woman was the Church’s rival, the temptress, the distraction, the obstacle to holiness, the Devil’s decoy. "
Barbara W. Tuchman A Distant Mirror
The Wife of Bath's Tale - A Group Work: Now that the students have read and discussed the incredible "Wife of Bath's Prologue", the tale she tells carries so much more weight. Without it (the prologue) it is an interesting, clever fairy tale from Arthurian times - but like her introduction, it tries to get the reader to see exactly what women are up against - and that what they want - is not that different from what their male counterparts desire. This group work (with a little more historical background) is designed to help students see that. Of course, the Middle Ages Group Work and reading on primary sources - especially those related to women - add to their understanding.
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
As I said above - this Tale is now so much richer that the students have read and discussed the Prologue that goes with it. This Group Work is designed to be completed in one period with a group of 3-4 students. It uses both their text books (Elements of Literature) and a short quote by the wonderful Barbara W. Tuchman from her book on the Middle Ages - A Distant Mirror. Here are some of the ideas, texts, and social constructs that this Group Work covers. See my page on Group Work for more on this kind of assignment.
Women as defined by the church of her time
The appropriateness of the Knight's punishment.
Marriage and her tale (and prologue)
Misogyny in general
The historical context of this tale.
How prologues and tales interact in The Canterbury Tales in general and in specific.
How The Canterbury Tales though separated by more time - are much closer to Grendel than they are to Beowulf. This is a biggie!
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" Group Work & Quiz
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" Group Work & Quiz
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" Group Work - Honors Docx PDF - this is the most recent - noncombined (see below) version of the Group Work
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" Group Work - Regular Docx PDF not a lot of differences. Just a little shorter to help the students get it finished by the end of the period.
see above or the handout itself for more on this Group Work
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" Quiz Docx PDF there are three different versions here - with one question repeated (see Thoughts on the Lesson)
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" Discussion Lesson Notes
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" Discussion Lesson Notes
Lesson Notes PDF - Yes, either once upon a time I did this as a discussion or these notes are what I used to write the original Group Work
Remote Enhancements
Remote Enhancements
None that I have found as of yet.
Class Recordings (for registered members)
Class Recordings (for registered members)
Audio
Audio
Video
Video
Canterbury Tales 7 The Miller's Tale - A Special (Very) Presentation
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Canterbury Tales 5 - The Wife of Bath's Prologue - A Discussion in Text & Song
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
On the quiz for this Tale there is the following question: What crime is the knight being punished for? It is a question that I look forward to grading every year, every class. Several students in each class will write that the knight beheaded the young maiden. I love that answer because a) it is very wrong (given what really happened in the story) b) it shows that those students did the reading - though they may not have looked up every word. Chaucer writes that the knight took her maidenhead. Well, if you don't look it up... The best way to learn vocabulary is to look it up - needing it for your reading. I hope that's one of the things that students learn in this class.
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