The Wife of Bath's Tale

Narrator

• Definition: the person who tells the story to the reader
• Ex: In this selection the narrator is the Wife of Bath, one of the biggest personalities of the Canterbury Tales
• Purpose: will reveal details about herself and medieval society

Feminism

• Definition: Belief women should have equal rights as men

First Wave of Feminism

• 1800s-1900s mission was to give women the right to vote
• 1928 Women won the right to vote

Second Wave of Feminism

• 1960s and 1970s
• Women were tired of being "happy housewife" and wanted to have higher education, better jobs/equal pay and more help at home

Third Wave of Feminism

• 1990s- today widened feminist ideas to include challenges faced by women of color and continued difference in pay between men and women

How are women represented?

How do we objectify women?

How are unrealistic body ideals created?

The Wife of Bath

• Some argue that she was the original feminist
• You will decide. Is she a feminist or is she a traditionalist (likes things they way they were)?