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Female roles in medieval literature
Short note on women characters in Chaucer's the Canterbury tales
Short note on women characters in Chaucer's the Canterbury tales
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In The Miller’s Tale, Chaucer introduces a romantic drama between a carpenter, his wife, her lover, and her suitor. This chaotic narrative belongs to the fabliau genre, as it depicts a fantastical and crude story that seems to deal satirically with the concept of love. However, Chaucer complicates the satirical narrative with the character of Alisoun. Instead of creating a traditional adulteress in the carpenter’s wife, Chaucer allows Alisoun to exist in multiple forms and produces a multidimensional character. Through the use of the male perspective, comparisons to animals, and Alisoun’s defiance of social boundaries, Chaucer frees Alisoun from becoming a stock character, as her many contradictory characteristics transform her into a complex …show more content…
and realized individual. Alisoun’s story differs from many of the other female narratives in The Canterbury Tales. Unlike other cheating-wife characters like The Wife of Bath, Alisoun’s story is not told through her own voice, but through the Miller. The Miller establishes a perspective of Alisoun within the prologue, so both the readers and the travels have an image of Alisoun before the tale even begins. When the Miller is defending his story to the Reeve, he states, “Ther ben ful goode wives many oon, / And evere a thousand goode ayains oon badde” (46). The implication here is that Alisoun is the “oon badde,” as the Miller establishes her as nothing more than a cheating wife. This is unsurprising to the readers, because the Miller is merely reiterating the perception of wives and their roles in this society. And by doing so, the Miller is placing Alisoun into the role of the passive cheating wife character, and there is no way for Alisoun to change this since she is not telling her story herself. However, Chaucer in fact subtly subverts the Miller’s reliability, which helps free Alisoun from her passive role. The most overt example of this is the fact that the Miller is considered too drunk to tell his story accurately. The Miller himself exclaims, “But first I make a protestacioun / That I am dronke: I know it by my soun. / And therfore if that I misspeke or saye, / Wite it the ale of Southwerk, I you praye” (29). By stating this, the Miller accepts that this story could be false or exaggerated, which calls into question his understanding of Alisoun’s actions. Moreove,r When the Miller describes his tale, he states, “For I wol telle a legende and a lif / Bothe of a carpenter and of his wif / How that a clerk hath set the wrightes cappe” (33). Here, the Miller inadvertently places the blame of the situation on the clerk, Nicholas. Instead of stating that it was Alisoun who made the carpenter look like a fool, Nicholas becomes the one who ruins the carpenter. Another instance of Miller’s unreliability is when the Miller states that “An housbonde shal nought been inquisitif / Of Goddes privetee, nor of his wif” (55). This foreshadows the carpenter’s own actions, as he consciously respects his wife’s privacy, which ultimately backfires on him when Alisoun cheats on him. By discrediting the Miller’s story, Chaucer helps subvert the Miller’s portrayal of Alisoun, and thereby removing her from the stock role of the cheating wife. Chaucer’s portrayal of Alisoun throughout the story also upstages her role as the cheating wife.
The comparisons between Alisoun and things of nature turn her into a much more complicated character. When the Miller first introduces Alisoun, he describes her in a way that seems to highlight her role as an adulteress. He states, “Fair was this yonge wif…She was ful more bilsful on to see / Than is the newe perejonette tree …Hir mouth was sweete as bragot or the meeth, / Or hoord of apples laid in hay or heeth” (125-154). By comparing her to fruit, the Miller emphasizes Alisoun’s fruitfulness and equates her to an object ready to be harvested. The Miller then goes on to describe Alisoun as “a primerole, a piggesnye, / For any lord to leggen in his bedde, / Or yit for any good yeman to wedde” (160). This statement creates a connection between Alisoun’s nature (the primerole and piggesnye) to her sexuality, making this the focal point of Alisoun’s character. By constantly comparing Alisoun to the beautiful things of nature, Chaucer transforms Alisoun into a thing of nature itself, which emphasizes her sexuality. She is as beautiful as nature, but also as physical and licentious as nature. However, upon further inspection of the Miller’s description of Alisoun, it becomes clear that Alisoun’s character is more complex than merely a sexual object. In multiple instances, the Miller compares Alisoun to a young colt: “Winsing she was as is a joly colt, / Long as a mast, and upright …show more content…
as a bolt… And she sproong as a colt dooth in a trave / And with hir heed she wried faste away” (155-174). While the comparison to an animal could be construed as a reference to Alisoun’s animalistic nature, the choice of the animal in fact demonstrates her vulnerability. By comparing her to a colt, Chaucer illustrates that Alisoun is still young and not fully matured. His choice of words— “winsing,” “sproong,” and “wried”—indicate that she is flighty and easily affected by her surroundings. The Miller later goes on to describe both Alisoun and Nicholas: “I dar wel sayn, if she hadde been a mous, / And he a cat, he wolde hire hente anoon” (238). This choice of animals here establishes a predator-and-prey relationship between Alisoun and Nicolas. Nicholas’ courtship of Alison is described as him “hente,” or “pounce on,” Alisoun, which emphasizes the predatory nature of his actions and her vulnerability. Chaucer’s description of Alisoun and comparison to nature illustrates the complexity of Alisoun’s character. While she is a sexual being, she is also vulnerable and not fully matured. Though the use of the Miller’s perspective and comparisons to nature depict Alisoun as more than a stock character, what defines her is her desire to exist beyond the confines of social boundaries.
Nicholas is credited with devising the plan to fool the carpenter so he and Alisoun can be together; however, what sets off the chain of events in the latter part of the story is Alisoun’s trick on Absolon. When Absolon comes to court Alison, she says she will give him a kiss, but then, “And at the windowe out she putte hir hole, / And Absolon, him fil no bet ne wers, / But with his mouth he kiste hir naked ers, / Ful savourly, er he were war of this” (624). This spectacularly crude action goes beyond all rules of social propriety and demonstrates her desire to not be typecast as a traditional woman. Moreover, it illustrates her ability to reject a suitor. Unlike the Wife of Bath, who accepts multiple suitors, Alisoun has a very clear idea of who she does and does not want to be with. Additionally, her choice between Nicholas and Absolon also demonstrates her ability to break away from traditional social expectations. When the Miller describes Nicholas, he states, “This clek was cleped hende Nicholas. / Of derne love he coude, and of solas, / And thereto he was sly and ful of privee” (91-112). He is a cunning and sly astrology student, while on the other hand, Absolon is a parish clerk and belongs to the institution of the Church. Nicholas’ rebellious and Absolon’s traditional
natures are also evident in their style of courtship. Nicholas is aggressive and sweet-talks his way into Alisoun’s bed, while Absolon sings love songs outside Alisoun’s window and sends her gifts to impress her. From a traditional perspective, Alisoun would have picked Absolon’s conventional methods of courtship, but instead, she chooses Nicholas. This choice demonstrates Alisoun’s refusal to act within traditional social boundaries, and this removes her from a passive female role within the story. Despite the many attempts to mold her into a specific role, whether it be the sexual object or the vulnerable victim, Alisoun refuses to conform into any form of traditional behavior. Chaucer continuously complicates Alisoun by establishing contradictory characterizations. She is a form of nature, but one that is both sexual and youthful. She is an adulteress, but one who consciously picks her partner. She is a woman, but one who defies her gender role. Alisoun is an active participant in her own story and she exists as a wholly unique being.
The Merchant's revealed nature, however, combats the very destruction of creation and individual that he tried to attain. As the Merchant tries to subsume the reality of marriage, love, and relationship under his own enviously blind view, Chaucer shows us another individual, significant and important in his own way. Instead of acting as a totalizing discourse, Chaucer uses the Merchant's tale to reveal his depraved envy and to reveal him as no more than a wanton cynic. Thus, Chaucer provides the very perspective that the Merchant tries to steal from his audience.
Forbes, Shannon. "'To Alisoun Now Wol I Tellen Al My Love-Longing': Chaucer's Treatment of the Courtly Love Discourse in the Miller's Tale." Women's Studies 36.1 (2007): 1-14. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 May 2013
Some say women can get the worst out of a man, but in The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1485, proves it. The tales were originally written as a collection of twenty four tales, but has been narrowed down to three short tales for high school readers. The three tales consist of “The Miller”, “The Knight”, and “The Wife of Bath” along with their respective prologues. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer shows the weak but strong role of women throughout the “The Knight’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” to contrast different human characteristics and stereotypes on the spectrum of people.
In the Miller's Tale, Chaucer blatantly mocks courtesy and courtly love in Nicholas’ exchange with Alison:
Alison in the Miller's Tale and May of the Merchant's Tale are similar in several ways. Both are young women who have married men much older than themselves. They both become involved with young, manipulative men. They also conspire to and do cuckold their husbands. This is not what marriage is about and it is demonstrated in both tales. What makes the Miller's Tale bawdy comedy and the Merchant's tale bitter satire is in the characterization. In the Miller's tale we are giving stereotyped characters. The principals are cardboard cut-outs sent into farcical motion. The Merchant's Tale gives us much more background and detail of the character's lives. The reader is more involved and can feel their situations. Here we will focus on the two women of each tale and how they demonstrate this difference.
Chaucer's "The Miller's Tale" should be tragic, because a lot of horrible things happen to the characters. The carpenter's wife is disloyal to him, sleeping with others and making fun of him with Nicholas. Also, he is depicted as a fool. However, readers get a humorous feeling from the story, rather than feeling sorry for the carpenter's unfair life. Chaucer makes the whole story come across as comic rather than tragic. This humor is created by the Miller's narration, the use of irony, the cartoon-like characters, and the twists of plot. These elements combine to produce an emotional distance which enhances the comic effect.
Though Chaucer showed multiple tales of various characters in The Canterbury Tales, the Miller’s and Wife of Bath’s tale surpassed them all on their concept of marriage and love. Both allow the reader to understand where they are coming from and their perception. While one does not seem to believe too much in love, the other does. However, both clearly believe that women control the game of love in their own respective ways.
Sexual relations between men and woman have created issues of life and death from the beginning of time. In most classic Western beliefs it began when Eve with the help of the Devil seduced Adam thus leading the downfall of humanity into an abyss of sin and hopelessness. This issue arises in all literature from Genesis, Chaucer and into modern day. Authors, clerks and writers of all types have aided stereotyping women throughout history and Geoffrey Chaucer is not an exception in most cases. However, in Chaucer's Wife of Bath we can find the beginnings of a new type of woman arising from the dark ages of the post-Roman era. And of course at the center of his character's struggle is sex. As this topic develops, we shall take a brief look into sex, women, the Middle Ages and Chaucer's Wife of Bath as an example of Middle Ages reflections.
In both the Miller’s Tale and the Wife of Bath’s Tale, Chaucer uses his characters and stories in order to project various stereotypes to the reader. Although varying a tad bit throughout the book, the tone that seems to be drawn from the stories is that women are manipulating, sinful, and power hungry, while men are considered gullible and rash. Its through understand and analyzing these stereotypes that we can fully understand what Chaucer’s stories are trying to convey to us.
The structure Geoffrey Chaucer chose for his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, of utilizing a melange of narrative voices to tell separate tales allows him to explore and comment on subjects in a multitude of ways. Because of this structure of separate tales, the reader must regard as extremely significant when tales structurally overlap, for while the reader may find it difficult to render an accurate interpretation through one tale, comparing tales enables him to lessen the ambiguity of Chaucer’s meaning. The Clerk’s Tale and The Merchant’s Tale both take on the institution of marriage, but comment on it in entirely different manner, but both contain an indictment of patriarchal narcissism and conceit.
The “Wife of Bath’s Prologue” shows that Alisoun was empowered by the ability use her sexuality. As she introduces her tale, Alisoun makes it clear that she sees marriage as a way to gain money and status, “Of fyve husbondes
As a man fascinated with the role of women during the 14th Century, or most commonly known as the Middle Ages, Chaucer makes conclusive evaluations and remarks concerning how women were viewed during this time period. Determined to show that women were not weak and humble because of the male dominance surrounding them, Chaucer sets out to prove that women were a powerful and strong-willed gender. In order to defend this argument, the following characters and their tales will be examined: Griselda from the Clerk's Tale, and the Wife of Bath, narrator to the Wife of Bath's Tale. Using the role of gender within the genres of the Canterbury Tales, exploring each woman's participation in the outcomes of their tales, and comparing and contrasting these two heroines, we will find out how Chaucer broke the mold on medievalist attitudes toward women.
In the Middle Ages, when The Canterbury Tales was written, society became captivated by love and the thought of courtly and debonair love was the governing part of all relationships and commanded how love should be conducted. These principles changed literature completely and created a new genre dedicated to brave, valorous knights embarking on noble quests with the intention of some reward, whether that be their life, lover, or any other want. The Canterbury Tales, written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer, accurately portrays and depicts this type of genre. Containing a collection of stories within the main novel, only one of those stories, entitled “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, truly outlines the 14th century community beliefs on courtly love.
The Wife of Bath’s insecurity and cynicism are just two of the ways in which she fulfils negative stereotypes of women. She tries to separate herself from other women of her time by taking control of her life by means of sex, but if she were truly progressive, she would have found a way to elevate herself without using her body. Alisoun is exactly what men fear and dislike about women; she is promiscuously sneaky, and she takes advantage of men. This is why while trying to present herself as strong and independent, her actions ultimately confirm misogynistic stereotypes of women; in the end, she is even more digressive to the cause feminism than a normal woman would be.
Two of the greatest masters of British literature, Shakespeare and Chaucer, tended to look to the classics when searching for inspiration. A lesser-known example of this lies in an ancient tale from Greece about two star-crossed lovers. There are many variations on the names of these lovers, but for the purpose of solidarity, they shall henceforth be referred to as “Troilus and Criseyde” for Chaucer and “Troilus and Cressida” for Shakespeare. Chaucer’s “Troilus and Criseyde” offers up a classic tale of love that is doomed, whereas Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida” is not only tragic but also biting in its judgment and representation of characters. This difference may be due to the differences in time periods for the two authors, or their own personal dispositions, but there can be no denying the many deviations from Chaucer’s work that Shakespeare employs. Shakespeare’s work, by making the characters and situations more relatable, builds upon Chaucer’s original work, rather than improving it or shattering it.