Wife of Bath's Tale And Modern Stream-of-consciousness Writing

Dear Chaucer:

The Wife of Bath is one of the most memorable of all of your characters in the Canterbury Tales. The Wife is likeable not only because of her boisterous, honest, and sexually frank persona but also because of the way in which she tells her tale. The Wife's storytelling anticipates modern stream-of-consciousness style. The Wife's style underlines the fact that it is not only how a story is told but who tells it that is important.

The Wife begins her tale by relating her experience of marriage before setting up the plot of her story: "I have had five husbands at the church-door (for I have been wedded so often); and all were worthy men in their ranks." She defends her ability to hold forth on the subject of marriage because of her obvious experience and also makes a humorous...
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