The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer
Page 5 of 8 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Purchase full notes for £4.95 (aprox $7.72)
57 ‘to be wedded is no sinne’ – 1Cor. 7:28: ‘But if you marry, it is no sin, and it is not a sin for a young girl to get married. They will have their troubles, though, in their married life, and I should like to spare you that.’
58 ‘Bet is to be wedded than to brinne’ – 1Cor 7:9: ‘But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.’ (AV)
60 ‘Lamech’ – One of the antediluvian patriarchs, and the first to take two wives (Gen. 4:19). By arguing for actual polygamy (or, at least, confusing the dividing line between actual and serial polygamy) the Wife seems to be developing an argument that would justify adultery. She would not go so far, but the implication is there.
71 ‘precept therof’ – 1Cor. 7:25: ‘About remaining celibate, I have no directions from the Lord, but give my own opinion as one, who by the Lord’s mercy, has stayed faithful.’
76 ‘Thanne had he dampned wedding with the deede’ – To command chastity would offend against the goodness of marriage, and no one would be born who could choose virginity.
81 ‘dart’ – 1Cor. 9:24a: ‘All the runners in the stadium are trying to win, but only one of them gets the prize.’
84 ‘ther as God list yive it of his might’ – Matt. 19:10-12: ‘The disciples said to him, “If that is how things are between husband and wife, it is not advisable to marry.” But he replied, “It is not everyone who can accept what I have said, but only those to whom it is granted. There are eunuchs born that way from their mother’s womb, there are eunuchs made so by men and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”’
87 ‘every wight were such as he’ – 1Cor. 7:7: ‘I should like everyone to be like me, but everybody has his own particular gifts from God, one with a gift for one thing and another with a gift for the opposite.’
92 ‘Withouten exception of bigamye’ – that is, without the suggestion that such an act is actual , rather than serial bigamy.
93 ‘no womman for to touch’ – 1Cor. 7:1b: ‘Yes, it is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman.’
previous next
Purchase full notes for £4.95 (aprox $7.72)
