Essay on "Wife of Bath it May Be Strange"

Quoted Instructions for "Wife of Bath it May Be Strange" Assignment:

Chaucer Essay Assignment .Please choose one of the following topics on which to write a substantial and fairly detailed essay. Be sure to identify any information you retrieve from online or printed sources and to clearly and correctly acknowledge and document those sources. Keep in mind that you do not need to answer all of the questions in the prompt when you write the essay. Use these questions as brainstorming tools to come up with content for your essay. Your goal will be to come up with an arguable thesis sentence that addresses some or all of the prompt, then to support that thesis with specific evidence from your chosen primary text.

1.Is the Wife of Bath a positive or negative figure in The Canterbury Tales? Readers of Chaucer have seen her in wildly different ways, from a ***** representing a lifestyle that should terrify them to an anticipation of a feminist or ***** liberated woman.***** How does her idea of woman*****s sovereignty in marriage contribute to your view of her? What doesn*****t she mention in her prologue that one might expect her to, and which might relate her thematically to the pilgrims whom we we look at in Lesson 4? (50 points)

2.Kittredge, the critic who postulated the existence of a *****marriage group,***** thought that the Franklin*****s conception of a marriage without an absolute authority*****either the husband or the wife*****was an ideal solution to the problem of marriage and a good conclusion to the debate. (In fact he thought the Franklin expressed Chaucer*****s own opinion.) More recent readers of the tale are not so certain. Does the tale contain details that may undercut Kittredge*****s position somewhat? What about the question of *****truth*****? Can we see Arveragus*****s insistence on keeping the empty name of sovereignty in his marriage as, in a way, fostering an illusion? Does this come up again when he forbids Dorigen to ever tell anyone about the affair with Aurelius? What is Dorigen*****s motivation in setting the task of the disappearing rocks for Aurelius? Is the use of an illusion an appropriate device in the tale? What do you think of Arveragus*****s response to Dorigen*****s predicament? Which of the three men was the most noble?

The instructions for the first major paper have been made available. It will be due on November 18: please take a look at the prompt. Also, take a look at the assignment description and rubric in the syllabus. As you begin to write it, keep in mind that I am not asking for a complete, direct answer to all of the questions in the prompt. You should use these questions as brainstorming tools to help you generate ideas. Your primary goal should be to formulate a clear, arguable thesis that answers some of the brainstorming questions. Your essay will be made up of major points that support this thesis, points supported by evidence drawn from the primary text. Let the rubric be your guide in terms of what are the most important elements of the essay. The prompt does not include a specific word count, but it does need to be of a length appropriate to the prompt. If it is less than 750 words (about 3 typed, double-spaced pages), it is probably too short and you need to make a more substantial argument. If it is more than 1500, you might need to consider making it more focused and concise. Also, you are not required to use outside sources, and I would actually prefer that you do not. If you feel like you really need to, be absolutely sure that you cite borrowed material correctly, preferably using MLA format. You also need to be sure that your sources are authoritative sources. Wikipedia, SparkNotes, Shmoop.com, or any site offering *****"sample*****" essays (i.e. cheat sites and paper mills) are not authoritative sources for college-level writing. Feel free to e-mail me or your coach if you have questions about this or any assignment.

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