Name______Period______Date______

The Wife of Bath’s Tale – The Canterbury Tales /44 points

Directions: As you are reading the text, answer these questions in complete sentences.

P125 Literary Element

1.  What is humorous in this exchange between the Wife and the Pardoner?

2.  Define REPROVE:

P126 Big Idea

3.  How has Christianity supplanted paganism in King Arthur’s day?

P128 Big Idea

4.  How does the knight expect ultimately to free himself through faith?

5.  Define CONCEDE:

P129 Literary Element

6.  What is the Wife making fun of here?

P130 Evaluating Argument

7.  Is Ovid’s tale convincing proof of the Wife’s argument that women cannot keep secrets? Explain…

P131 BIG IDEA

8.  How does the knight’s encounter at the edge of the wood evoke the pagan world?

READING STRATEGY P132

9.  What criterion do the women use to evaluate the knight’s answer?

P132 LITERARY ELEMENT

10.  Do you see any humor in the knight’s predicament? Explain…

11.  Define DISPERSE:

P133 LITERARY ELEMENT

12.  How is the old woman making fun of the knight? Why does she appear to be unoffended by his aversion to her age and appearance?

P134 READING STRATEGY

13.  Summarize and evaluate the old woman’s argument against the knight’s accusation that she is not a gentlewoman.

14.  Define ARROGANCE:

P135 BIG IDEA

15.  How does the old woman use the power of faith to support her argument?

16.  How does the old woman’s first argument against the knight’s accusation of poverty illustrate her religious faith?

P136 READING STRATEGY

17.  The old woman has cited Dante, Valerius, Boethius, Seneca, and now Juvenal. How well do these citations support her argument?

P137 READING STRATEGY

18.  Summarize the six reasons the old woman uses to support her argument that poverty is beneficial?

19.  Summarize and evaluate the old woman’s argument that the knight should not scorn her for being old and ugly.

P137 LITERARY ELEMENT

20.  Do you find any humor in the knight’s response to the choice offered him by the old woman? Explain.

21. Define SUFFICE:

P138 LITERARY ELEMENT

22.  Do you find any humor in the Wife’s prayer? Explain.