Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale"
Directions: After reading the lecture, answer one of the questions below. This answer is due no later than Thursday, Sept. 22.
Your responses to other students' answers are due by midnight on Sunday, Sept. 25. Remember: in order to get the full 20 points, you MUST respond thoughtfully to at least 2 other people's postings.
This discussion question is worth a possible 20 points. Late answers receive 0 points, so post early :)
More details, with sample questions and answers, can be found on the Discussion Board itself, under the heading "Info on Discussion Questions." Please read this carefully so you know how to get the most points for the discussions.
We will be using the Canvas Discussion Board for this class. Click on the link below to get to the LACCD portal, sign in, and then click on the link for Canvas in the right column. This will take you to the Canvas dashboard. From there, click on the square with the name of our class. Once you've entered the class, you will find the "Discussions" link on the left side of the screen:
1. What values are important, according to the "old wife" in the tale told by the Wife of Bath? (NOTE: I am not referring to the Wife of Bath herself, but to the old woman in the tale told by the Wife of Bath.) Does the Wife of Bath herself hold the same values?
2. The Wife of Bath was scandalous in the time when this story was written because of her frank acknowledgment of the way she used her sexuality to compensate for the inequality in the laws governing men and women. Do you think Chaucer intends the reader to approve or disapprove of the Wife of Bath?
For further information on these works, see the Links page.