Table of Contents
- 1 Why do you think the king let the queen make the decision?
- 2 In what way is the Queen’s question related to the crime the knight has committed?
- 3 What is the answer the knight provides to the queen in the attempt to save his life?
- 4 What is Queen Guinevere’s punishment for the knight?
- 5 What is the knight’s answer to the Queen’s question?
- 6 What does the Wife of Bath ask of Jesus?
- 7 How much choice do you think Arthur has in determining his own fate?
- 8 What is the queen’s reaction How does the king respond Do you think this foreshadows anything?
- 9 What happens to the knight in the Canterbury Tales?
- 10 What happens to the Knight and the old woman?
- 11 Why does the hag ask the knight why he is so sad?
Why do you think the king let the queen make the decision?
The king might willingly allow his wife to effect a different punishment because he already knows what women want, and is performing self-same sovereignty. Why might the king willingly allow his wife to effect a different punishment?
What is the kings response to the crime committed by the knight? In what way is the question that the queen poses connected to the crime the knight has committed? It is to show what he did was not right. What is the conflict in lines 98-100 about the question the knight has to answer?
Why does King Arthur condemn the knight to death?
The people were so angry that they went to King Arthur, who sentenced the knight to death—that was the punishment for rape back then, you know. This knight would have been beheaded for his crime were it not for the queen and other noblewomen who begged Arthur over and over again to have mercy on the knight.
What is the answer the knight provides to the queen in the attempt to save his life?
However, the King agrees to hand him over to the Queen. The Queen tells the Knight that he must come up with the answer to this question: What do women most desire? If he can come up with the correct answer, the Queen will spare his life.
What is Queen Guinevere’s punishment for the knight?
Queen Guinevere punishes a knight for having rapen a maiden. His punishment is to discover what women most desire. After a year, the knight hasn’t discovered yet what the Queen has asked him.
What was the queen’s punishment?
English 12 – Canterbury Tales – The Wife of Bath’s Tale
| A | B |
|---|---|
| What crime does the knight commit? | rape |
| What does the King want to do to the Knight as punishment? | behead him |
| Who asks for mercy for the Knight? | the queen |
| What question doe sthe Queen ask of the knight? | “find out what women want most to be happy” |
What is the knight’s answer to the Queen’s question?
When the two appear at court, the young knight provides the answer to the riddle: Women want power over their husbands. The queen acknowledges that this is the correct answer. Staying true to his promise, the young knight does what is next asked of him by the old woman: he marries her.
What does the Wife of Bath ask of Jesus?
What does the wife of Bath ask of Jesus? Answer: She asks Jesus to send meek husbands and prays that he will cut short the lives of men who refuse to be governed by their wives. Explanation: Towards the end of the tale, the Wife of Bath asks Jesus to send meek husbands who can be controlled by their wives.
How did King Arthur choose his knights?
King Leodegrance gave King Arthur 100 knights when he gave him the Round Table as a dowry for his daughter. The wizard, Merlin, filled 28 seats, and King Arthur named two knights. The remaining 20 seats were left for knights who were deemed ‘worthy’. There were 25 knights whose names were inscribed on the Round Table.
How much choice do you think Arthur has in determining his own fate?
He doesn’t have much choice. He has to adhere to the chivalrous code of knights, and this leads him into his foreseen death.
What is the queen’s reaction How does the king respond Do you think this foreshadows anything?
The queen’s reaction was somewhat more settle because her and the other ladies were praying for the King’s grace. The king responded by giving her what she wanted and I do think it’s foreshadowing something that we’ll learn more about later on in the tale.
What does the knight have to promise the one who says she has the answer he seeks?
English 12 – Canterbury Tales – The Wife of Bath’s Tale
| A | B |
|---|---|
| What does the Knight promise the woman if she gives him the answer to his question? | “I will grant you any favor you want” |
| What does every woman want most? | “A woman wants the self-same sovereignty over her husband as over her lover.” |
What happens to the knight in the Canterbury Tales?
The queen presents the knight with the following challenge: if, within one year, he can discover what women want most in the world and report his findings back to the court, he will keep his life. If he cannot find the answer to the queen’s question, or if his answer is wrong, he will lose his head.
What happens to the Knight and the old woman?
The knight and the old woman travel together to the court, where, in front of a large audience, the knight tells the queen the answer with which the old woman supplied him: what women most desire is to be in charge of their husbands and lovers. The women agree resoundingly that this is the answer, and the queen spares the knight’s life.
How is the Knight put to death in Arthur?
Overcome by lust and his sense of his own power, he rapes her. The court is scandalized by the crime and decrees that the knight should be put to death by decapitation. However, Arthur’s queen and other ladies of the court intercede on his behalf and ask the king to give him one chance to save his own life.
Why does the hag ask the knight why he is so sad?
While in bed, the loathsome hag asks the knight why he is so sad. He replies that he could hardly bear the shame of having such an ugly, lowborn wife. She does not take offense at the insult, but calmly asks him whether real “gentillesse,” or noble character, can be hereditary (1109).