Women Displaced: Rape and Romance in Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath's Tale'

Author / Editor
Saunders, Corinne J.

Title
Women Displaced: Rape and Romance in Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath's Tale'

Published
Arthurian Literature 13 (1995): 115-31.

Description
Assesses the rape in WBT in light of rape as an "episodic unit" in medieval romance and in light of medieval law.
In both the romance and the legal contexts, rape is ambiguous, and WBT reflects this ambiguity, affirming patriarchal values while exploring the possibility for educating men about female desire for action against rape.

Chaucer Subjects
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.