The Oppression Of Women In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

Often, the most memorable female characters are those who break out of the stereotypical “good wife” mold. When an author uses this technique effectively, the woman often carries the story. In Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, he portrays the Wife of Bath, Alison, as a woman who bucks the tradition of her times with her brashness and desire for control. Chaucer effectively presents a woman's point of view and evokes some sympathy for her.

There are three women in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the prioress, the wife of Bath and the prostitute in the Shipman’s Tale. The prioress and the wife of Bath are the only ones of the three that have a fully developed part of the overall work. They are equal to the male characterizations; the prostitute is only minor player. Women are rarely mentioned in the other pilgrim’s tales. The wife of Bath and the Prioress are examples of strong medieval women. As Chaucer depicts them, they are a departure from the typical sinful daughters of Eve with the exception of the prostitute. The wife Dame Alisoun, and the prioress are both pious, successful females but they are still under the domain of men. Chaucer’s women are still part of the patriarchal world of the late middle ages.

During the 18th century, the lives and treatment towards women differed greatly from women compared to today. The liberties and accommodations for women that we are accustomed to in our modern age did not exist back then; and when it came to what women were allowed to do in the 18th century, men typically governed and made all of the decisions. Writer and activist Mary Wollstonecraft defended the rights of women; and instead of merely falling into “her place” in society as a woman, she utilized her writing by acting as a voice and fighting for change in the social aftermath that society had dealt women. In her piece, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft articulated her feminist manifesto that men are the force imposing oppression on women in three key aspects of life: in education, in jobs, and in sexual freedom.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales as a way to portray satire and a lot of irony into his view of Europe during the time period. While the tone can be taken as very sarcastic and mostly for fun, there are some very serious scenes that in today's society would be disturbing, at least, to unprepared young adult audiences today. This is already apparent in The Reeve's Tale, which follows after The Miller's Tale, where he decides to tell a story about a dishonest miller. This tale follows said miller and two university students who indulge in less than desirable activities. Unfortunately, this tale focuses around the two university students getting into bed with the only females at the miller's home by any means necessary, helping to bring about the themes of feminism within the tale.

In Chaucer’s Canterbury tales, He identified religion as a major hindrance to sexual equality. Women during the 14th century, around the time Chaucer wrote the Canterbury tales, Were identified with very little power, men were viewed as the bread makers, separating work and home and leaving the women behind. Women never had the opportunity for education, some people believed that teaching women how to read and write was unnecessary, and instead wanted to teach them how to run a house, and keep their ‘man’ happy. The church had a lot of power during that time, and was very influential in the majority of the population. Girls were brainwashed into thinking that they were monsters.

The role of women in the medieval society is an issue in The Canterbury Tales. In the movie, “A Knight’s Tale”, women are somewhat different in the movie compared to the actual way they dressed and acted in the real world during that time. In the real world of medieval times, women would wear long dresses with a hood covering their heads. The women in A Knight’s Tale wear more revealing outfits than were considered respectable at the time, while hoods, “the characteristic headgear” of this time period are surprisingly uncommon in the film.

In the novel The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, the central of idea of gender roles and how women are portrayed are conveyed by satire. Chaucer focuses on gender roles using satire mainly in the Wife of Bath. At this time in history, women were usually seen to have little control over their own lives and thought a man was needed to protect them. However, it is shown in the Wife of Bath’s stories that women can blame men for being unfaithful, demonstrating that women can be independent.

The “Wife of Bath’s Tale,” emphasizing her prologue and the general prologue in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, along with the story of Margery Kempe are examples of male authors reflecting misogynistic ideals onto unsuspecting female characters. When transitioning from Old English to Middle English culture, the role of women in literature takes a more prominent voice compared to Old English where women were offered little to no voice during the writings and manuscripts. Women were always portrayed as passive and submissive, allowing men to steal their voice and control them however they decided. But slowly the voice of women started to appear in Middle English literature, however, not necessarily in an empowering progressive manner.

The Role of women in the Canterbury Tales In the Canterbury Tales Chaucer made his female characters very intricate and made them have personalities much different from the men. The female characters in the Canterbury Tales are very unlike the women of that time and have unique qualities (Mann). Since these female characters are so different, it has been an argument for many years about Chaucer’s take on women and how he perceives them. The way he perceives them can be determined through the way he makes his female characters, personalities, and the way they look in the Canterbury Tales.

When she writes she is bold but not without tact. In A Vindication of the rights of Women She wisely states that “A degree of physical superiority cannot...be denied”. While this statement may not be true in all respects today, it stirs up a common ground for the opposing argument to stand on. Wollstonecraft’s belief is that an education is what women need to be on equal grounds with men. In A vindication she makes it very clear that if women have proper education, they will be more able to contribute to society and their households.

“Chaucer has mastered the techniques required to skilfully put his points across and subtle irony and satire is particularly effective in making a point,” (Sheppard). As written by this college professor, Chaucer is very effective in using comedy, and satire, to casually attack sacred ideals of his time. Chaucer carefully uses his characters to battle common ideals, such as his use of the Wife of Bath to pick on patriarchy. In his Canterbury Tales, Chaucer begins with a general prologue where all characters are introduced, including a few who don’t quite fit the mold of “holy”. In the Pardoner's Tale, Chaucer speaks through him and brings the hypocrisy of the church into the light. Chaucer uses his writing of Canterbury Tales to attack two major idea’s of his time, including the idea of men being superior to women and the purity of the church.

Critic Susan Crane states that “this formulation of social identity obviously makes women’s significance dependent on their relations to men, providing little justification for Alison’s claims to supremacy,” but in the Middle Ages, women were nothing without men, so this was the Wife’s way of getting her dominance. Analyst Elaine Tuttle Hansen notes that Alison aims to flip the idea of men having the sovereignty (Hansen 274). Additionally, King Author passes the power over to his wife when she had interrupted him. Another commentator, Harold Bloom, adds that the Wife of Bath’s “firm belief in female sovereignty is the center of her rebellion,” furthermore evidence that the Wife of Bath is a feminist icon (Bloom

The power of education: Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft believed that there was more that women could do to improve the way they were view’d by society. The work that was produced by Wollstonecraft improved immensely the roles of women. The roles of women in the 18th century were very limited, women had no voice, “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” was the reason for the change in social roles. The fact that Wollstonecraft was able to have such an impact on all these women, and express that they truly played an important role on society during this time was something no one had done before. In “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” Wollstonecraft expresses that it is not fair that women are always being judged by men, and she

Alison pursues the equality and happiness life is also shows in her tale through the story of knight and old woman. “we are no longer angry, for, by my troth, to you I will both be--yes, now.......as any wife’s been,since the world was new”(l.1245-1250). The old woman is desire to be a worthy wife who have the sovereignty in marriage. The answer of women’ desire are sovereignty, but sovereignty is not equal to having and enslave men, so, old women decides to give what the man wants in exchange for the sovereignty in their marriage. Old woman keeps the relationship in balance and equality which shows the equality is not establish on the control but on the tolerance and respect.

She comes out with her thoughts best in her work “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792). This was the first book of its kind as it comprehensively underlines about the imperative need for education of women, while philosophizing on the nature of the differences between the genders. Today, the author may be accused of rambling and repeating, but during those days she was a pioneer in establishing new thoughts that shocked contemporary society. She wrote “To preserve personal beauty – woman’s glory! – the girls’ limbs and faculties are cramped with worse-than-Chinese bands; and the sedentary life they are condemned to live, while the boys play in the open air, weakens their muscles and slackens their nerves” (Mary Wollstonecraft 50-51). The approach is easily understandable. It is well to remember that English society was alarmed at the outbreak of the French Revolution – so much so that the government suspended many liberties. Wollstonecraft was mainly concerned with women’s education. The cornerstone of her argument was the establishment of the fact that a consensus had recently been reached that woman too has souls. Thus, she argued, women too have the right and need to reason so as to relate with the Creator. Thus, leaving woman in ignorance is outright immoral. The idea is in perfect alignment with modern feminist agenda, and indeed, it was much ahead of its time. There is no doubt she was