The Wife of Bath’s Tale.
- Author / Editor
- Malone, Kemp.
The Wife of Bath’s Tale.
- Published
- Modern Language Review 57 (1962): 481-91.
- Description
- Examines WBPT for internal contrasts, attributing them to the Wife's comic inability to see the implications of her own tale. WBT is a "tale of wonder" or "folktale" in which the rape is merely a plot device and the education of the knight cumulative. Comparisons with English and Irish analogues help to reveal comic inconsistencies, apparent to other pilgrims--e.g., the Clerk--but not to the Wife.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Wife of Bath and Her Tale
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations
Clerk and His Tale