Abstract
At very end of Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer steps out of his role as pilgrim and into his role as a poet.1 Taking leave of his poem, he quotes from St. Paul a pronouncement on function and purpose of writing: Al that is writen is writen for oure doctrine. Because Chaucer's own entente is formed on this didactic principle, he revokes all worldly vanities he has written, including the tales of Caunterbury, thilke that sownen into synne.2 Which parts of Canterbury Tales do tend or conduce to sin? The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale manifesdy challenge certain ideas of what is right. Do they also encourage or endorse what is wrong? The purpose of present essay is to place Wife's discourse in what I believe to be a relevant moral context, and to do so by examin ing two moral maxims that she quotes and attributes to second-cen tury astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. The quoted maxims are If one is not corrected by others, others will be corrected by him, and Among all men, he is highest who does not care whose hand world is in.3 The Wife quotes former of these in response to Pardoner's interruption of her ever-lengthening Prologue. In quoting it she is asserting authority of her own practical experience by citing authority of a mathematical theorist: she is expert, she says, and her lessons ought to be heeded because
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