Thursday/Friday Week 23 Literature Wife of Bath/Pardoner

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4,5

Welcome to English class

Welcome 

class V2A

This Friday 23:59

PO deadline!

The Canterbury Tales

What can you remember about the Wife of Bath/Dame Alison?

The Wife of Bath

- Dame Alison is one of the storytellers

- She stands out as a remarkable character

Wife of Bath: prologue

"And when I'd mastered him, and out of deadlock

Secured myself the sovereignty in wedlock,

And when he said, "My own and truest wife,

Do as you please for the rest of your life,

But guard my honour and my good estate,"

From that day forward there was no debate. "

2a+bHow does the wife of Bath get her own way? What is the outcome?

Why is the Wife of Bath such a remarkable character?

Homework for today:

The Wife of Bath's Tale

The Pardoner

+ questions

The Wife of Bath's Tale - p. 48

Let's read out loud

4a How does the wife of Bath convey her own ideas on marriage in the last part of her tale?

4b Why does the knight leave the choice up to his wife eventually?

5. In the Middle Ages women were portrayed as wilful, sensual, and a bad influence on men. Is this kind of thinking displayed in the portrayal? Explain why (not).

The Pardoner

How are the prologues and the tales connected in the Canterbury Tales?

1. What was a 'pardoner' and
what did he do?

purgatory

(vagevuur)

Pardons

provide a

shortcut to heaven.

2. Do we still have pardoners now, do you think? Why or why not?

A pardoner

- Speaks to people in churches

- Sells pardons (aflaten) to the people 

- Has a lot of possessions that belonged to "saints" (heiligen)

-> most of the times pardoners were lying about this!

Page 50/51
Question 1: What things does the Pardoner NOT have with him?

1. Certificates bearing the papal seal: defence against anyone who might give him trouble in the course of his work.
2. Certificates from popes, cardinals, patriarchs and bishops to produce at critical moments.
3. Certificates from the King that state that he is indeed a man serving God.
4. Glass bottles containing bones and fragments of cloth to pass off as relics.

Page 50/51
Question 2a: Identify two lines in the passage in which the Pardoner demonstrates his dishonesty.

Page 50/51
Question 2b: What methods does the Pardoner use to persuade his audience?

Page 51
Question 3a: Describe and explain the difference in which the Pardoner talks to his fellow pilgrims from the way he talks to the 'yokels' he refers to.

Page 51
Question 3b: At the end of his tale, the Pardoner coolly tries to sell pardons to his fellow pilgrims. Why should he imagine he has any chance of success?

Canterbury Tales

• Geoffrey Chaucer
• Frame story

Questions?

Work on your PO or Holmoods Reading

- In silence

- No eating, etc.