Write a 1000 word literary essay on: Wife of Bath's Tale by Chaucer (1360): like Lysistrata, here is another pro-feminist story before the word "feminism" existed. Certainly this is a celebration of the success of one woman in what was without doubt a man's world. She is neither shy nor ashamed of her sexuality and like Mae West or Madonna after her, she is a self-made woman, independent, and able to take care of herself. In fact she uses her sexuality to dominate men, and she prefers her men to be rich and submissive. If you are a woman, discuss what you know about using sexual charms to get what you want. Or about what it takes to be independent in a man's world. If you are a man, you might explore how the desire for sex has led you down the wrong road.

Instructions:

Policies:

1. Your literary response paper should give ample evidence that you have read and understood the literary work and have found a way to make it relevant to your life. Imagine your audience to be classmates who have not read the literary work. From your discussion they should be able to get a good idea of what the work is about-the general storyline, main characters and theme--perhaps information about the author. As stated in the syllabus, you need to have a minimum of four direct quotations, both short and long (over four lines in block format) from the literary work with appropriate Works Cited or References. These need to be formatted correctly in either MLA or APA style. "A" papers will probably exceed minimum requirements.

2. Occasional citations from sources other than the literary work are possible but unnecessary: stay focused on the literary work you have chosen.

3. Length: 1000 words or so.

4. Excessive major usage and MLA/APA formatting errors will limit the grade to a "C."