Part II

The General Prologue:
Portrait of The Wife of Bath

 

 

 

 

Look at the women in these images.

What do they symbolize to you?

Who are they?

What makes them similar?

What makes them different?

What might they have to do with the portrait of the Wife of Bath?

 

 

To begin this lesson, reread the description of The Wife of Bath
found in The General Prologue.

Click here for the text.

 

Objectives:
Students Will Be Able To:

Recall information from the previous lesson, centering on The General Prologue.

Discuss the description of the Wife of Bath.

Sketch the Wife's general and physical descriptions from the text of the poem.

Analyze the Wife's mentality from the text of the poem.

Construct an image of the Wife, based on their knowledge of her description from the poem.

 

Input:

Look at the description of the Wife in Middle English. You should by this time be able to translate the words in order to understand what she looks like.

Make a list of all the elements of her description. Now, look at the portrait in Modern English to see how close you were.

Make another list of all the discrepancies between the actual description and your description. Include sections where you were correct, incorrect, and where you missed something entirely. Think about her mentality.

What virtues does she possess?

Why might she be on this pilgrimage?

Why is she a significant character?

What has she done with her life thus far?

 

 

By focusing not only on the Wife's physical description, but also on her mentality, you may be able to find some connections between her and the story she will tell. Although the portrait is not long, it is detailed, and Chaucer gave her these details for a reason. By visualizing her and then drawing her, you can see exactly what she looks like and that her description coincides with the mentality of her character. She is strong and happy. She knows what she wants, and she will not hesitate to obtain it. She is pretty, but not gorgeous. The Wife's tale utilizes some of these elements, and connects with the description, as we will see in the next lesson.

 

Practice & Application:

Students will divide into groups or pairs. They are each to draw a picture of the Wife of Bath as they see her. Then, write a short biography of her, detailing her life and why she is on the pilgrimage to Canterbury.

 

 

For interactive activities, click here.

 

 

Closure:

Students will come back together as a group and each will show their pictures of the Wife. It will be interesting to see all of the different descriptions of her, as well as what students chose to include in their biographies of her. As each group presents their work, the students will show that they understand the Wife and her description, as well as her role on this pilgrimage. Also, they will have recalled this minor part from the last lesson, even though there was no emphasis placed on it at that time. However, since they have already identified each pilgrim (from the previous lesson), they will already be slightly familiar with the Wife to a degree. Finally, since the next lesson will focus on The Wife of Bath's Tale, the current lesson will be recalled. It is serving as preparation for the upcoming lesson. It also serves as a bridge between the first and third lessons.

 

Click here to move on to Part III: The Wife of Bath's Prologue & Tale

Click here to return to the Introductory Page for the Unit