WorksheetsWife of Bath
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 20mins
How many times has the Wife of Bath been married?
3
4
5
6
How does a reference to Jesus attending a wedding at Cana cause the Wife of Bath to become angry?
She realizes she is supposed to attend her cousin’s wedding that weekend and will never be back in time.
She says Jesus turned the water into wine and the bread into fish, so she should be able to turn a poor husband into a prince.
She says the biblical reference indicates the wife is supposed to be submissive, and she believes this is just wrong.
She says the biblical reference indicates a person should only marry once in his or her lifetime. Since she has had more than one husband, she believes this statement is an accusation against her.
The Pardoner interrupts the Wife of Bath after only a few pages of her prologue. What does he interject?
He asks her to stop discussing biblical references because not everyone in the group is familiar with them and those who are not feel excluded.
He tells her he was about to get married but is now having second thoughts because of her speech.
He tells her he is a married man and hopes his wife never crosses paths with the “wisdom” of the Wife of Bath.
He asks her to explain the part about the wedding at Cana again.
The Wife of Bath believes intimate relations between a husband and wife exist for the purpose of
procreating.
urinating.
controlling the husbands.
pleasing the husbands.
The main theme of her prologue is
men should remain bachelors.
women should be allowed to marry as often as they want even if the previous husband is not deceased.
a woman should always marry for love.
women in the know are able to control their husbands and that is the natural order in a marriage.
What was wrong with the second to last husband?
He cheated on her.
He beat her.
He died on their honeymoon.
He worked all the time and neglected her.
What was wrong with the last husband?
He cheated on her.
He was too strict and beat her.
He died on their honeymoon.
He traveled on business frequently.
What did the last husband do in the latter part of their marriage?
He continued to take on mistresses even though he knew it upset her.
He beat her daily and eventually broke his hand on her head.
He gave in to her wishes and asked her only to be true to his honor.
He became submissive and allowed her to beat him for a change.
Between the end of the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and the beginning of the Wife of Bath’s Tale is the Words between the Summoner and the Friar. What is the subject of this
brief interruption?
The Summoner and the Friar applaud the Wife of Bath for her eloquent prologue.
The Summoner expresses pleasure at the prologue, but the Friar says he dislikes it.
The Friar mentions the length of the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and this causes the Summoner to rail against the Friar. They promise to offend each other greatly with their tales when the time comes.
The Friar mentions the length of the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and this causes the Summoner to become angry. He leaps off his horse and drags the Friar down to the ground where the two of them fight until the Host separates them.
At the beginning of her tale, the Wife of Bath makes an unkind remark about friars. She describes a setting a hundred years prior when fairies and elves roamed the
lands. Along came the friars and they chased away these magical creatures making the lands safe. How does she use this description to make a dig at the friars? She says women are now safe
to walk alone because only the friars are about and the friars will only take a woman’s virtue, which is to say, rape her.
to walk alone because the friars have chased away the fairies and elves that used to attack women and rape them.
to walk in the woods because there is always a friar handy to escort one.
to walk in the woods because the friars have set up a blockade for anything evil.
What is the setting of her tale?
King Creon’s court
King Arthur’s court
the Elf Queen’s court
the Marquis’s court
When a lusty knight is walking through the woods, he spies a maiden and he
falls in love and proposes to her.
begs her to run away with him.
tries to take her forcibly but she runs to the nearest friar for help.
is overcome with his own desire and rapes her.
Which character gives the knight an opportunity to save his life?
the queen
the king
another knight who is speaking on behalf of the knight
an old woman who was once a beautiful young woman
The knight spends a year on his quest and is unable to find the answer until the very last moment. Where does he find this answer?
the queen
he asks the Elf Queen
an old woman
his fellow knight
When he says the correct answer, the queen pronounces him free
of debt and allows him to leave.
but the old woman says he owes her a debt that must be paid.
as long as he never returns to the kingdom again.
but the old woman says it was really her answer and calls the knight a cheater.
What is the debt the old woman claims the knight owes her? The knight has to
marry her.
take her to her homeland safely.
pay her a large sum of money.
to marry the women he originally raped because she is the old woman’s daughter.
When asked if he prefers a young woman who will cheat on him or an old one who will be faithful, the knight responds
the young one and he will find a way to chain her up.
the old woman and he will just take a mistress on the side.
neither, he decides to run away and live the life of a hermit.
by telling her to do whatever she wants and he will live with her decision.
What is the result of the knight’s decision?
He lives happily ever after with the old woman.
He remains married to the old woman and eventually learns to appreciate her.
She turns into a beautiful young woman and he is happy.
She turns into a beautiful fairy queen and flies away.
What is the theme of this tale?
Knights cannot be trusted.
Sometimes wisdom comes in unattractive packages.
Women never know exactly what they want.
Men should always submit to their wives.
How is this tale particularly fitting for the Wife of Bath?
The Wife of Bath’s Prologue is about how a woman in the know can control her husband and the tale reinforces that message.
The Wife of Bath’s last husband was half her age and the knight is half the age of the old woman.
The Wife of Bath is an old and unattractive woman so she resembles the old woman in the tale.
The Wife of Bath’s daughter was the maiden the knight attacked.
