Unlikely Sympathies: The Rapist of the Wife's Tale

Description: In the fourteenth century, rape was perceived as "natural," a relatively minor social infraction. In WBT, the ladies of the court do not dispute the verdict assigned the rapist-knight; they dispute only the penalty. The knight is socially rehabilitated, not morally reformed. The humor of his discomfiture allows for his restoration to the primarily male community of the court, a community he has embarrassed by creating a social problem and by asserting a sexual advantage over his fellow knights.