The present extract is taken from the Canterbury Tales, a narrative poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. The extract is organized into 32 lines arranged into rhyming couplets.

Looking at the title the reader can understand the text might deal with a psycological characterization of "worthy woman" (line 1) who occupies a high and respected position in society. Indeed in the first lines (1-8) the narrator gives an overall portrait of a woman called "The wife of Bath". Globally in the first section, the reader can find the social connotation of the character. The narrator underlines her skills "in making cloth" and her supremacy connoted by the alliteration "indeed they did" (lone 7) brutally interrupted by the rough sound of the word " wrath" at line 7.

The second section starts from the line 8 and ends at line 14. It consist of a physical description of the woman and of her way of dressing. For example the narrator higlithes her kerchiefs' lightness thanks to delicate sounds of the words "finely woven"(line 8) ; on the other hand the expression contributes to give the idea of a fine and expensive garment emphasizing her social status. At the end of second section the wife of Bath is characterized from a physical point of wiev, as a "bold" woman. This sound recalls her physical as the narrator connotes as a woman with large hips.

The third section starts with the same expression ("worthy woman") of the first line higliting once more her wealth. Indeed the following lines are functional to tell her various pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to Rome, Boulogne, St James of Compostella and Cologne as witnessed by the expression "gap teeth" at line 21.

The fourth section (lines 22-29) tells about the woman's way of dressing. The narrator with the expression "well wimpled up" underlines once more again the lightness of her clothes. The narrator higlithes that the woman is robust thanks to the expression "large lips"(line 28) and from her hat size (line 27).

The last section stars from line 30 and ends at line 32. In this section the narrator describes the behavior of the woman in the company of pilgrims. In the last sentence the narrator expresses his point of view about the woman saying "and knew the remedies for love's mischances, an art in which she knew the oldest dances"(lines 31-32), underlining her pecularities.