The Canterbury Tales | The Wife of Bath and the Dream of Innocence

In the following essay, Britton J. Harwood defends his assertion that “Chaucer was creating a human being” when constructing the character of the Wife of Bath.

The sad note some hear in the voice of the Wife of Bath can be interpreted as “die letzte Süsse in den schweren Wein,” a hint of sourness showing that, with age, her deep enjoyments have begun to turn. From the viewpoint of those who understand the Wife as a stock character, this sad note, if not attributed to critical ingenuity, is assimilated to the Wife’s type as a picturesque, individuating detail or as the bitter recognition, coming amidst our common celebration of the created world, that time holds us “green and dying.” Her “allas!,” then, would be “the song...

[The entire page is 5910 words long]

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