prologue would most likely be the more brutally honest of the two, perhaps the longer less edited version. It has been argued that his continued unfavorable portrayal of his stories purpose in this prologue caused him to edit it down. So, it's largely subjective what the reader will take the story as with these two differing contexts. Was Chaucer simply trying to sanitize his public image or was he really admentally motivated in creating a companion text for women to utilize? And, if so, how did these sentiments motivate the editing process? These are the essential questions that drive the critical conversation. The last essential detail of the debate between both prologues lies in the purpose of an analysis of the two, critically, or practically. Lowes argues that the only real purpose we can get out of both versions of the prologue is to help determine the specific details and supposed authorship of The Legend of Good Women or other Chaucerian tales, and that is rather useless to debate which version is superior since they are largely identical in the first place. Other critics like Goddard, are interested in the person of Chaucer or his individual character. Was he really as good willed as he comes off in his work or was he really just pandering to his critics? This rift in criticism and analysis has largely dominated the existing critical spheres and permeated nearly decades of debate surrounding the story. Alternatively, other scholars have attempted to scatologically categorize these arguments and debates into definitive references of the ongoing conversation itself. The most recent additions to the conversation more or less look like this, compendiums of the past critical analysis and prevailing hypothesis with a new theory presented at the conclusion. Importance of Women to the Poem Women play an important role in Chaucer’s collection of legendary stories, The Legend of Good Women. Not only do women make up the majority of the characters in the poem, but it is also thought that women form a large part of the audience for this poem as well. The most clear depiction of the importance of women to this piece would be the ten female characters: Cleopatra, Thisbe, Dido, Hypsipyle, Medea, Lucrece, Ariadne, Philomela, Phyllis and Hypermnestra. All of these female characters are taken from classical legends and mythology, which Chaucer decides to retell in his own poem. Nicola F. McDonald notes