Michael S. Seiferth

(210) 921-5049 (Office)

E-Mail: mseifert@accdvm.accd.edu

TEXAS NET; mseifert@texas.net

http://lonestar.texas.net/~mseifert

"The Wife of Bath"

Group Project and Presentation

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

1. Each student will become part of a group whose leader will be selected from the members of the group.

2. The leader will act as a master/mistress of ceremonies, introducing, summarizing, and preparing the final document. The leader will also prepare one of the the major essays in the case studies.

3. Preparation for this project will take place out of class ; the leader will help to organize locations and meeting time.

4. The following groups will constitute the project and presentations:

a. The New Historicism and the Wife of Bath

b. Marxist Criticism and the Wife of Bath

c. Psychoanalytic Criticism and the Wife of Bath

d. Feminist Criticism and the Wife of Bath

e. Deconstruction and the Wife of Bath

5. What each member of the group is required to do:

a. Member one will read and present a precis of the article, "What is

_________criticism?" where the blank refers to one of the approaches

listed in number four, above. This will be the first presentation in the

group.

b. Member two will read and present a precis {or a report} of the article,

"A______________Perspective" where the blank refers to the scholar's

essay on one of the approaches in number four, above.

c. The leader of the group will divide the work up among the members.

It may be that in a group of four or five people, the essays may be

divided into sections and then presented as a coherent whole.

d. The leader will offer an overview of the critical approach as it appears

in the section, "A critical History of the Wife of Bath's Prologue

and Tale," pp. 89, ff., and then introduce each member and the portion of the work he or she is going to present. The group has 30 minutes or longer for

the presentation.

e. The leader will summarize the group's position and prepare the final

document for the group--simply collecting the documents and providing

the informaiton in his or her own introductions, etc.

6. How each member and each group will be evaluated:

a. The group receives one grade, the average of the oral presentations

and the final documents.

b. Each member of the group receives the average grade as his or her own.

c. This is a major grade in the course, a project equivalent to two critical

papers.

7. What resources are available to complete this project?

a. Peter Beidler's book THE WIFE OF BATH; www resources for medieval

studies and Chaucer; a modern English version--www.

Note the resources on the WWW page especially the "Critical Approaches" information.