Canterbury Tales Loathly Lady Quotes

But certeinly, er he cam fully there,
Vanysshed was this daunce, he nyste where.
No creature saugh he that bar lyf,
Save on the grene he saugh sittynge a wyf –
A fouler wight ther may no man devyse.
Agayn the knyght this olde wyf gan ryse.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Knight sees twenty-four young maidens dancing and singing near a forest’s side. But when he ventures towards them hoping to learn some wisdom of what a woman desires, the dancing maidens vanish and sitting on the green is an ugly old wife – the Loathly Lady (or hag). She rises at the Knight’s approaches.

"Plight me thy trouthe heere in myn hand," quod she,
"The nexte thyng that I requere thee,
Thou shalt it do, if it lye in thy myght,
And I wol telle it yow er it be nyght."
"Have heer my trouthe," quod the knyght, "I grante."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Knight tells the old woman that he is as good as dead unless he can say what it is that women most desire. She says she will reveal it to him before it is night, if he gives his word that the next thing she requires of him he will do it. So he pledges his word.
that thou me take unto thy wyf - Loathly Lady in The Canterbury Tales

"Mercy," quod she, "my sovereyn lady queene!
Er that youre court departe, do me right.
I taughte this answere unto the knyght;
For which he plighte me his trouthe there,
The firste thyng that I wolde hym requere
He wolde it do, if it lay in his myghte.
Bifore the court thanne preye I thee, sir knyght,"
Quod she, "that thou me take unto thy wyf,
For wel thou woost that I have kept thy lyf.
If I seye fals, sey nay, upon thy fey!"

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. This passage is all about woman power. The Loathly Lady who provided the Knight with the answer to the queen’s riddle speaks up before the queen’s court, requesting that the she grant her her right. She announces the Knight’s pledge that the first thing she would ask of him he would do, if it lay in his power. So she calls on the Knight to honor his promise and marry her.

This knyght answerde, "Allas and weylawey!
I woot right wel that swich was my biheste.
For Goddes love, as chees a newe requeste!
Taak al my good and lat my body go."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Knight is unhappy that the Loathly Lady is demanding he repay his debt to her by marrying her. He pleads with her to choose a new request, to take all his goods and let his body go. He clearly doesn’t fancy the idea of an ugly old hag having sovereignty over him and his body.

But al for noght; the ende is this, that he
Constreyned was; he nedes moste hire wedde,
And taketh his olde wyf, and gooth to bedde.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. After trying to wriggle out of it, the Knight has has no choice but to to like it or lump it and marry and bed the Loathly Lady, much to his distaste. There is a certain poetic justice and irony in the fact that a Knight who raped a young virgin finds himself obliged to have sex with an ugly old hag.

I seye ther nas no joye ne feeste at al;
Ther nas but hevynesse and muche sorwe.
For prively he wedded hire on morwe,
And al day after hidde hym as an owle,
So wo was hym, his wyf looked so foule.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Wedding days are normally occasions for great celebration with family and friends, with the stunning bride capturing everyone’s attention with her beauty and style. But there’s no love story or fairytale wedding for the Knight and his hag bride. Married in private in the morning, he hides himself for the day, so miserable is he that his wife looks so ugly.

Greet was the wo the knyght hadde in his thoght,
Whan he was with his wyf abedde ybroght;
He walweth and he turneth to and fro.
His olde wyf lay smylynge everemo.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Loathly Lady’s demand for the Knight to marry her for saving his life inflicts a novel kind of punishment on the Knight for his rape. In an ironic reversal of fate, the Knight now becomes the victim, and the old hag his aggressor and tormentor. When they retire to the marriage bed she can’t stop smiling, while he twists and turns and wallows in woe.

But, for ye speken of swich gentillesse
As is descended out of old richesse,
That therfore sholden ye be gentil men,
Swich arrogance is nat worth an hen.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Knight’s Loathly Lady wife ridicules him on his alleged gentility or nobility after his unchivalrous treatment of her on their wedding night. She describes men like him as arrogant for thinking that they are of the noble class because they are descended from old riches.

For thogh they yeve us al hir heritage,
For which we clayme to been of heigh parage,
Yet may they nat biquethe for no thyng
To noon of us hir vertuous lyvyng,
That made hem gentil men ycalled be,
And bad us folwen hem in swich degree.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. In her pillow talk with her husband Knight on the meaning of nobility, the Loathly Lady says that virtuous living cannot be bequeathed. So even though our ancestors give us all their heritage, they cannot pass down to us their virtuous living that made them be called noble men.

Wel kan the wise poete of Florence,
That highte Dant, speken in this sentence.
Lo, in swich maner rym is Dantes tale:
"Ful selde up riseth by his branches smale
Prowesse of man, for God, of his goodnesse,
Wole that of hym we clayme oure gentillesse;"
For of oure eldres may we no thyng clayme
But temporel thyng, that man may hurte and mayme.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Knight’s wife enlists the help of the great Italian poet Dante in her argument about the nature of nobility. She says that Dante spoke rightly when he said a person’s worth is rarely inherited from his family tree, because God wants us to claim our nobility from him – Dante’s Convivio (The Banquet) Book IV, Canzone: Le dolci rime d’amor ch’ io solìa. From our ancestors we can claim only worldly things that man may hurt and maim, the hag adds.

Eek every wight woot this as wel as I,
If gentillesse were planted natureelly
Unto a certeyn lynage doun the lyne,
Pryvee and apert thanne wolde they nevere fyne
To doon of gentillesse the faire office;
They myghte do no vileynye or vice.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The hag says that if nobility were an inherited quality then those who who received through lineage would show it in private and public life, and be incapable of doing anything bad or dishonorable. This is a direct hit at the Knight and his crime of rape.

Taak fyr and ber it in the derkeste hous
Bitwix this and the mount of Kaukasous,
And lat men shette the dores and go thenne;
Yet wole the fyr as faire lye and brenne
As twenty thousand men myghte it biholde;
His office natureel ay wol it holde,
Up peril of my lyf, til that it dye.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The old hag contrasts the so-called noble men to fire as a metaphor to show how a true noble should act. If you light a fire in the darkest house between here and the Caucases Mountains and shut the doors, she says, it will burn as brightly as if 20,000 people were watching it. She is suggesting that some people only do noble deeds when they know others are watching, but were they truly noble they would do these deeds also in private.

Heere may ye se wel how that genterye
Is nat annexed to possessioun,
Sith folk ne doon hir operacioun
Alwey, as dooth the fyr, lo, in his kynde.
For, God it woot, men may wel often fynde
A lordes sone do shame and vileyny.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Nobility is not joined to possessions and wealth, the Loathly Lady says, since folk do not always behave as they should. And sometimes a nobleman’s son can carry out an act of shame of villainy – an obvious swipe at the Knight, who has committed rape.

And he that wole han pris of his gentrye,
For he was boren of a gentil hous
And hadde his eldres noble and vertuous,
And nel hymselven do no gentil dedis
Ne folwen his gentil auncestre that deed is,
He nys nat gentil, be he duc or erl,
For vileyns synful dedes make a cherl.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. A person is not noble who is born into a noble house and doesn’t himself do noble deeds, even if he is a duke or earl. So says the Knight’s hag wife. Villainous sinful deeds make him a churl, a peasant of low status, she adds in an obvious reference to her husband’s crime of rape.

For gentillesse nys but renomee
Of thyne auncestres, for hire heigh bountee,
Which is a strange thyng to thy persone.
Thy gentillesse cometh fro God allone.
Thanne comth oure verray gentillesse of grace;
It was no thyng biquethe us with oure place.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. True gentility or nobility comes from the grace of God alone and is not bequeathed to us with our social rank, the Loathly Lady tells the Knight. It is not just the renown of your ancestors, for their great goodness, for that is something not naturally part of you.

Thenketh hou noble, as seith Valerius,
Was thilke Tullius Hostillius,
That out of poverte roos to heigh noblesse.
Reedeth Senek, and redeth eek Boece;
Ther shul ye seen expres that it no drede is
That he is gentil that dooth gentil dedis.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Even the poor person with no wealth can rise to high nobility, says the old woman to her husband. And to bolster her argument the hag invokes the history and writings of the great Romans of the past. She tells him to read Seneca and Boethius and consider how noble, according to Valerius Maximus, was Tullius Hostillius, rising from poverty to great nobility.

Ther shul ye seen expres that it no drede is
That he is gentil that dooth gentil dedis.
And therfore, leeve housbonde, I thus conclude:
Al were it that myne auncestres were rude,
Yet may the hye God, and so hope I,
Grante me grace to lyven vertuously.
Thanne am I gentil, whan that I bigynne
To lyven vertuously and weyve synne.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Towards the end of a long speech to her husband on their wedding night, the Knight’s wife believes she has proved that, despite her ancestors being rude, she may be called "gentil" or noble. She is noble if the high God grants her the grace to live virtuously and abandon sin, the Loathly Lady tells him.

And ther as ye of poverte me repreeve,
The hye God, on whom that we bileeve,
In wilful poverte chees to lyve his lyf.
And certes every man, mayden, or wyf
May understonde that Jhesus, hevene kyng,
Ne wolde nat chese a vicious lyvyng.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. God as Jesus chose to live his life in poverty and would not choose a vicious living, says hag. She selects Jesus for her model and example for people on how to live, yet her husband reproves her for her poverty, she tells him.

Whoso that halt hym payd of his poverte,
I holde hym riche, al hadde he nat a sherte.
He that coveiteth is a povre wight,
For he wolde han that is nat in his myght;
But he that noght hath, ne coveiteth have,
Is riche, although ye holde hym but a knave.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Whoever is content with his poverty, the old lady considers him rich, even if he doesn’t have a shirt. Whereas the person who covets things is the poor person, because he wants what he cannot have. But a person with nothing who covets nothing is rich, although you consider him a knave, the Loathly Lady tells her husband.

Poverte is hateful good and, as I gesse,
A ful greet bryngere out of bisynesse;
A greet amendere eek of sapience
To hym that taketh it in pacience.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. While poverty is hateful it is also good, claims the hag. She thinks that it is a great remover of cares and also brings wisdom to those who suffer it with patience. It is not clear how being poor does all that; many people who have to survive on limited means might disagree with the Loathly Lady.
    • 1
    • 2
Close