W10, #11: FAIR OR NOT?

Who: ONLY periods 1, 2 & 3

Set-up: Each of you has now read “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, a story within a story within a story within a story that attempts to disect very complex gender politics (that are as relevant today as they were in the Middle Ages when Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales).

Challenge: Was the knight punished ‘fairly’ for his ‘crime’?

Note: This is NOT as simple as you might think from a plot-level.  Anyone who chooses this option should consider the following:

• What was the actual crime?
• What does it mean that women were ‘given’ the right to ‘punish’ him?
• Was he truly ‘punished’?
• What was the lesson the wife was trying to teach him?
• Did the knight truly ‘learn’?
• Did the knight truly ‘love’ his wife?
• What lesson is the Wife of Bath suggesting by the wife’s magical change at the end of the story?
• What are we — as the reader — supposed to assume with Chaucer (male author) and the Wife of Bath (female character) co-constructing this story to have the old woman punish the knight in this unique manner?
• Should we be satisfied by what Chaucer is suggesting?
• Should we be satisfied by the Wife of Bath’s perspective and her choice in the story/outcome?
• Should we be satisfied by the wife’s punishment (and her eventual reward)?
• Should we be satisfied by the knight’s punishment (and his eventual reward)?
• What does all of this say about ‘us’ as members of society where gender issues — like this — continue to play out?
• Who’s ‘right’ (or morally ‘just’) in this story?
• How should women ‘behave’ in society?
• What does this say about how ‘men’ should behave?
• Does this story have more/less power because a woman (written by a male) told the story?

Length: 7+ sentences

W10, #4: ONE OF CHAUCER’S TRAVELERS

For: ONLY periods 1, 2 & 3

Set-up: Each of you have read all of the “Prologue” of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”.  As you’ve come to discover, the 20+ page segment serves to a) introduce each character (30, including the narrator) and b) introduce the ‘framework’ for a collection of stories told by each character.

Challenge:

• Select one of the 29 characters described by the narrator that most intrigues you.
• Explain why this character grabbed your attention.
• Use key descriptions (yes, line #’s are expected, too) to make your point.
• Finally, help the rest of us figure out what Chaucer is trying to say by his description.  This should come in a final thesis (of sorts).

Length: 7+ sentences