Womans In Canterbury Tales Essay, Research Paper

Oliver Thompson

English 4 with Mr. Edson

November 3, 2000

Womans in the Canterbury Tales

Throughout the Canterbury Tales adult females are treated as objects. In the & # 8220 ; Knight & # 8217 ; s Tale & # 8221 ; a beautiful maiden is sought after by two work forces, work forces willing to make whatever it takes to hold her. The carpenter in the & # 8220 ; Miller & # 8217 ; s Tale & # 8221 ; married a immature and beautiful adult females, and she is pursued by two work forces because of her beauty. Two pupils exact revenge upon a Miller in the & # 8220 ; Reeve & # 8217 ; s Tale & # 8221 ; by kiping with his married woman and girl, taking their retaliation on the Miller by go againsting his ownerships. Finally, in the & # 8220 ; Wife of Bath & # 8217 ; s Tale & # 8221 ; a knight rapes a adult female, and so despises his married woman because she is ugly and hapless. By moving this manner the knight shows ignorance in his attitude towards adult females, handling them as nil more than objects. Womans in the Canterbury Tales are frequently given a worth, defined by their expressions, upbringing, and wealth. Womans are non sought after for their intelligence, cognition, ability, or wisdom. It is merely in the terminal of the & # 8220 ; Wife of Bath & # 8217 ; s Tale & # 8221 ; that Chaucer uses the knight and the old adult female as an illustration of how work forces should see adult females, and how there is more to adult females than beauty and money.

The & # 8220 ; Knight & # 8217 ; s Tale & # 8221 ; puts a beautiful adult female on base, comparing her to a goddess. Two captives fall in love with this adult female, Emily, without cognizing anything about her desires, her aspirations, or her personality. The two work forces want her for her beauty, handling her like a athleticss auto, or a & # 8220 ; trophy wife. & # 8221 ; It goes so far as there is a competition, and the victor receives Emily as the award. & # 8220 ; Ready by conflict to make up one’s mind his claim/ To Emily. & # 8221 ; ( 52 ) The & # 8220 ; Knights Tale & # 8221 ; exemplifies chivalry, yet despite this adult females are still objectified and viewed as ownerships, non human existences.

The adult female in the & # 8220 ; Miller & # 8217 ; s Tale & # 8221 ; is a immature married woman of an old carpenter. He knows he is non what a immature married woman desires, but that did non halt him from get marrieding her. A pupil wants to kip with her, he is after sex and this immature adult female complies with him, offering small opposition. In the undermentioned quotation mark the married woman of the carpenter agrees to love Nicholas after a individual conversation with him. & # 8220 ; Unless I have my will of you/ I & # 8217 ; ll decease a secret love? /In the terminal she promised him she would/ Cursing she & # 8217 ; d love him. & # 8221 ; ( 91 ) The adult female is simply the coveted object in this narrative ; she serves no intent but to animate the work forces to mortify themselves and others.

In the old narrative, the Miller tells a narrative about a carpenter being tricked by a pupil. Now, the reeve tells his narrative about a Miller being tricked by pupils, and non merely do they kip with his married woman but his girl every bit good. This tale focuses more upon the Miller and the pupils, Alan and John, demoing how the Miller cheats the people when he grinds their

grain, and how the pupils are determined to halt the Miller from stealing their flour. The two pupils fail to halt the Miller from stealing their land maize flour, but when they stay overnight at the miller’s house, they decide to demand retaliation. The Miller and his married woman go to bed rummy, and Alan justifies taking advantage of Simpkin’s girl in the undermentioned quotation mark.

The jurisprudence grants easement when things gan awry

For, John, there is a jurisprudence that gans like this:

& # 8220 ; If in one point a individual be aggrieved,

Then in another he shall be relieved. & # 8221 ; ( 115 )

The two pupils use sex with the Miller & # 8217 ; s girl and married woman to & # 8220 ; ease & # 8221 ; the humiliation of being tricked by the Miller. The pupils sleep with both adult females, and by go againsting the Miller & # 8217 ; s married woman and girl they are devaluating them, and in bend aching the Miller because of his association with them as the hubby and male parent. The adult females are non seen as holding heads of their ain, which dehumanizes them in the eyes of the reader.

A knight rapes a adult female, and the male monarch decrees that the knight is to be executed. The queen begs for his life and gives him a status, that unless he can detect what a adult female truly wants in a twelvemonth and a twenty-four hours, he will be decapitated. The & # 8220 ; Wife of Bath & # 8217 ; s Tale & # 8221 ; shows a knight profoundly mired in the belief that adult female are merely deserving something when beautiful and rich. & # 8220 ; You & # 8217 ; rheniums so old, and detestably field, / So hapless to get down with, so low-bred to follow ; / It & # 8217 ; s small admiration if I twist and wallow! & # 8221 ; ( 289 ) The knight expressions at his new bride, and all he cares to see is her age, poorness, and low societal position. She refutes him, saying that gentlemen and breeding are non sole to the upper category, that a good adult male is a good adult male no affair his place in life. A fire Burnss bright both in the center of a wood where no 1 can see, and in a hearth in a house where many people can bask it. So excessively are gentlemen and sort people, merely because gentlemen are non seen in the public oculus does non intend they are non gentlemen. The old adult female denounces the knight & # 8217 ; s bias against poorness by saying that Christ chose a life of poorness, and preached against philistinism. Last of all, the adult female addresses her age, stating the knight that a true gentleman respects age and the wisdom that comes with the passing of many old ages. The knight realizes that her words are the truth, and accepts her for who she is.

The Canterbury Tales portrays adult females as objects instead than human existences. In all four narratives adult females did non keep occupations, were non educated or upstanding members of society, and did non look to hold heads of their ain. The adult females acquiesced to the will of the work forces in the narratives, their ideas and positions deemed unimportant by the work forces in society. It is non until the & # 8220 ; Wife of Bath & # 8217 ; s Tale & # 8221 ; that we see a adult male acknowledging the importance of an intelligent married woman.