The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale: Context (A-Level English)

This detailed 25 slide PowerPoint explores several contextual areas of Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale” to support teachers’ and students’ understanding of the poem.

I have used this in my teaching of CCEA’s A2 Unit 2 module (Study of Poetry Pre-1900) to help enhance students’ use of AO3 in their written responses. This can also be used an adapted to suit the needs of students/teachers working with this text for other exam boards.

Areas of Contextual Study include the following:

Biographical Context: Geoffrey Chaucer, Geoffrey Chaucer and Cecilia Chaumpaigne.

Literary Context: The Canterbury Tales, The Genre of The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.

Social/Historical Context: Medieval Society, The Three Estates Model, Gentillesse, The Black Death, Social Mobility, The Peasant’s Revolt, The Medieval Church, Pilgrimages, Women, Marriage, Anti-Feminism, Anti-Feminist Literature.

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