Since we have Chaucer on the brain these days, I am continually reminded of the conceptual links that should happen when a student of the literature (he or she could be anyone) struggles with the wife of Bath. The wife addresses not just the question of marriage in her own circumstance but also its in relation to the past and to its authorities, reading by literal and historical exegesis. She says
For thanne th’Apostle saith that I am free
To wedde, a Goddes half, where it liketh me.
He saide that to be wedded is no sinne:
Bet is to be wedded than to brinne.
She then “links” to “Lamech,” Abraham, and Jacob.