Wayne Shumaker "Alisoun in Wander-land: A Study in Chaucer's Mind and Literary Method"

Shumaker, Wayne. “Alisoun in Wander-land: A Study in Chaucer’s Mind and Literary Method.” ELH: A Journal of English Literary History 18.2 (1951): 77-89.

Shumaker makes a claim about the Wife of Bath, Alys, and her portrayal by Chaucer. In his opinion, the well-traveled Wife of Bath would give much credit to her sex. Going into the difficulties and immodesties of belonging to a journey, let alone three, would give Alys a greater understanding of the world and give her an experiential education most women would not have the opportunity to have. Alys’s modern sensibility and individuality are underscored, in his opinion, by Chaucer giving her feminine traits of sinful faults in character and modesty. Still, Shumaker does not blame Chaucer exclusively, considering his audience and time period. Instead, he compares Alys to a real life example of a well-traveled women of the time period, Margery Kemp, whose writing: The Book of Margery Kempe was written approximately between 1413 and 1415. The examples of Kempe’s knowledge and reflection written about her journey to Palestine connect to the Wife of Bath in the struggle of being part of a journey few would undertake with such inconveniences of travel. The comparison of two women taking on a role that was not expected in the 15th century shows the strength of women at the time and the fact that they could endure such hardships as men. Shumaker’s respect for Alys, the Wife of Bath, is evident. The strength of her character is shown and even respected by both Chaucer and the narrator for the time period. Nevertheless, only from a modern standpoint, using the documents recently found of Margery Kempe could the reader fully grasp the nature of women during the medieval period.