Arthurian legend
Limiters drove away the faeries, and it can be assumed that the faeries are ungodly creatures.
motes-dust particles
copse-small thicket
maidenhead-virginity
The king is not a sucker for a weeping woman. The queen must pray for the knight's life to be spared although he is far from perfect and gentle.
purvey-provide
behest-command
None of the women he asks can agree on anything, so he thinks he will never find the answer.
Midas, because he is embarrassed about his ears, tells his wife. She then whispers it to the river, who then whispers the secret to everyone. Chaucer says through this digression that women cannot be trusted with secrets.
The 24 dancing ladies, assumed to be absolutely gorgeous, are a huge temptation for the knight.
greensward-turf
crone-a witchlike old woman
She manipulates the knight by making him swear on something unbeknownst to him. He is desperate for the answer, so he obliges.
She says that women desire most to control their husbands.
fastidious-squeamish
There was only sorrow at the wedding feast because the knight did not want to be wed to the crone, but he must fulfill his promise.
Her sermon on gentleness forces him to submit because she took him on a guilt trip.
Old people should be revered.
Poor people should be seen as manifestations of Jesus.
Ugly people should be considered faithful prospective spouses.
362-370: "'Choose, now', said she, 'one of these two things, aye,/To have me foul and old until I die,/Or else to have me young and very fair/And take your chance with those who will repair/Unto your house, and all because of me,/Or in some other place, as well may be./Now choose which you like better and reply.'"
The above lines constitute the most important question of the book because the knight could have picked like she asked, but he lets her choose, exemplifying the knightly virtues of courage and nobility. This does count for something, even though he has already ruined his chance at being a perfect gentle knight.
The transformative kiss is the magic of the story. The pathos becomes that even though the wife of bath is like the crone, she will never have that kiss in the form of a sixth husband. Her tale is based on wishful thinking.
Limiters drove away the faeries, and it can be assumed that the faeries are ungodly creatures.
motes-dust particles
copse-small thicket
maidenhead-virginity
The king is not a sucker for a weeping woman. The queen must pray for the knight's life to be spared although he is far from perfect and gentle.
purvey-provide
behest-command
None of the women he asks can agree on anything, so he thinks he will never find the answer.
Midas, because he is embarrassed about his ears, tells his wife. She then whispers it to the river, who then whispers the secret to everyone. Chaucer says through this digression that women cannot be trusted with secrets.
The 24 dancing ladies, assumed to be absolutely gorgeous, are a huge temptation for the knight.
greensward-turf
crone-a witchlike old woman
She manipulates the knight by making him swear on something unbeknownst to him. He is desperate for the answer, so he obliges.
She says that women desire most to control their husbands.
fastidious-squeamish
There was only sorrow at the wedding feast because the knight did not want to be wed to the crone, but he must fulfill his promise.
Her sermon on gentleness forces him to submit because she took him on a guilt trip.
Old people should be revered.
Poor people should be seen as manifestations of Jesus.
Ugly people should be considered faithful prospective spouses.
362-370: "'Choose, now', said she, 'one of these two things, aye,/To have me foul and old until I die,/Or else to have me young and very fair/And take your chance with those who will repair/Unto your house, and all because of me,/Or in some other place, as well may be./Now choose which you like better and reply.'"
The above lines constitute the most important question of the book because the knight could have picked like she asked, but he lets her choose, exemplifying the knightly virtues of courage and nobility. This does count for something, even though he has already ruined his chance at being a perfect gentle knight.
The transformative kiss is the magic of the story. The pathos becomes that even though the wife of bath is like the crone, she will never have that kiss in the form of a sixth husband. Her tale is based on wishful thinking.
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