Feminist Literature

Chaucer’s ‘The Wife of Bath” is considered antifeminist literature that reflects the belief that women are “promiscuous, luxury-loving, extravagant, loose tongued, proud, quarrelsome, deceitful, domineering, and guilty of every vice or annoying disposition men could think of,” (Greenblatt, et al. 2012, p. 107). 

After reading “The Wife of Bath” and critical reviews of the tale, consider the idea of feminism in this text by completing the following steps:

1. Differentiate between feminism and antifeminism in the context of the late Middle Ages
2. Create an argument that either (a) supports the view of “The Wife of Bath” as an antifeminist work that accurately reflects the values of its time, OR (b) establish that the tale represents Chaucer’s version of feminist literature.

The paper must be three to four pages in length (excluding the title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style. Be sure to support your ideas with examples from the text as well as by citing other sources. You are encouraged to search for articles in the University Library. You must use at least two scholarly sources other than the textbook to support your claims. Cite your sources in text and on the reference page. For information regarding APA samples and tutorials, visit the Writing Center, within the Learning Resources tab on the left navigation toolbar.

*Greenblatt, et al. (Eds.). (2012). Teaching with the Norton anthology of English literature (9th ed.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
*Leicester, H. J. (1984). Of a fire in the dark: Public and private feminism in The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 11(1-2), 157-178. doi:10.1080/00497878.1984.9978608