"Now I will tell of my fourth husband. I say I had great resentment in my heart that he had pleasure in any other. But by the Lord and Saint Joce, he was paid back! I made a cross from the same wood for his back not with my body, in any foul manner, but truly I offered people such generous hospitality that for anger and absolute jealousy I made him fry in his own grease. By God, I was his purgatory on earth, wherefore I hope that his soul is in glory now. 996
The Wife of Bath''s Prologue - Florida State University
"Yet I tickled his heart because he thought that I had such great fondness for him. I swore that all my walking about at night was to spot wenches whom he slept with. Under that pretext I had many privy jests at him for all such wit is given to us when we are born. God has given deceit, weeping, and spinning to women by nature, so long as they live. 957
Figurative Language - The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of
"And when I saw that he would never leave reading all night in this cursed book, all of the sudden I plucked three leaves out of his book, even as he was reading, and I also struck him on the cheek with my fist so that he fell down backward into our fire. And he started up like a mad lion, and struck me on the head with his fist so that I lay as dead on the floor. 797
SparkNotes: The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath's Tale
Silence was commanded to every creature, and the knight was ordered to tell in public what thing mortal women most love. This knight stood not like a dumb beast, but without delay answered the question with manly voice, so that all the court heard it. 6586
"''Thus you say, old fool, when you are going to bed that no wise man need marry, nor any man who hopes for heaven. With a wild thunder-clap and fiery lightning-bolt may your withered neck be snapped in two! You say that leaky houses, smoke, and chiding wives, make men flee from their own homes. 785
"Now, Friar, I curse your face," said this Summoner, "and I curse myself, unless I tell stories, two or three, of friars, before I get to Sittingborne, that shall make your heart grieve, for I know well your patience has already left you." 899
"''You say also that if we make ourselves amorous with clothing and with costly dress, it would be a peril to our chastity and yet--may the plague take you!--you must confirm it with these words of the apostle: "Ye women shall apparel yourselves in garments made with chastity and shame," he said, "and not with tressed hair and splendid gems and pearls, nor with gold, nor rich clothes." I would not give a fly for your text or your rubric. 897
"For had my husband peed on a wall, or done something that would have cost him his life, I would have told his every bit of his secret to her, and to another worthy wife, and to my niece, whom I loved well. And I did so often, God knows, which often made his face red and hot for true shame, and he would blame himself for telling me so great a secret. 597
Students will also benefit from understanding attitudes toward women and marriage that prevailed during Chaucer''s time. To place Chaucer''s work in historical context, have students work in groups to prepare class reports on the institution of marriage in medieval times and the place of women in medieval society. In addition to library resources, background on these topics is available through EDSITEment at the Labyrinth website and the Geoffrey Chaucer Website.
"Choose," she said, "one of these two things: to have me foul and old until I die, and to you a true, humble wife, never in all my days displeasing you or else to have me and beautiful, and take your chance on how many visits there will be to your house--or perhaps to some other place--which will be for my sake. Now choose yourself which one you will have." 6777
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