'How He Symplicius Gallus ...': Alison of Bath's Name-Calling, or 'The Taming of the Shrewed'

Author / Editor
Spearman, Alan.

Title
'How He Symplicius Gallus ...': Alison of Bath's Name-Calling, or 'The Taming of the Shrewed'

Published
Chaucer Review 29 (1994): 149-62.

Description
The Wife's changing of the name Sulipucious Gallus to Symplicius Gallus (3.643) allows her to poke fun at one of her antifeminist "authorities" as well as to link this man to another antifeminist "gallus," the cock in NPT. She indicates that a man who holds such antifeminist attitudes is a fool and--like other male authorities challenged by WBP--not worthy of respect.

Chaucer Subjects
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.
Nun's Priest and His Tale.
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.