Modern Approaches to the Canterbury Tales
In “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue,” Alisoun describes her fourth and fifth marriages rather quickly. Because these marriages are so distinctly different than the first three, it seemed fitting to give them special attention here. This three act adaptation imagines these marriages by extending the memories in her prologue into scenes and giving a voice to some of the characters that the Wife speaks for: her fourth husband (here, named Henry for clarity), her fifth husband (Jankin), and her good friend Alice.
In addition to visualizing these scenes on a stage, this adaptation focuses on the relationship dynamic between Alisoun and her husbands. This reveals a bit of toxic manipulation on Alisoun’s part and exposes the misogyny behind Jankin’s mindset.
Because The Canterbury Tales was written so long ago, it is easy to accept these issues of toxicity and misogyny in relationships as a thing of the past.
These issues still exist today.
To this end, this adaptation attempts to illustrate the Wife of Bath’s contemporary relevance to modern issues such as institutional misogyny and domestic violence.
Access the PDF here: Alisoun of Bath
