The Role Of Women In The Miller's Tale?

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The roles of women are seen as not as important as the role in which men play. Focussing on the roles of a lustful temptress and a trophy wife in the Miller’s Tale, the roles of a hostess and monster in Beowulf, and the role of being passive and a sex symbol in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight of which the roles women had to be condemned to play in society at the time of these two text.
In the Miller’s Tale we see that Alisoun is the lustful temptress who lead men into lusting over her. It states,”For she was wilde and yong, and he was old And demed himself ben lyk a cokewold.”(117-118) This quote is stating how that since she was young and a women that since she was married to an older man that young women are known to cheat on their men. For …show more content…

The role of a trophy wife is a young attractive woman who is a seen as a status symbol for an older man. In the beginning of the tale we are told how she is described as a woman who is so beautiful that her own husband has locked her away. In the text it says, “This carpenter hadde wedded newe a wyf
Which that he lovede more than his lyf;
Of eightetene yeer she was of age.
Jalous he was and heeld hire narwe in cage,”(113-116)
This happens because when women are seen as trophies and not as human beings then the men tend to try and keep the women away from all of mankind because she is usually known as a temptress and not just seen as a women. Furthermore, role of women seen in Beowulf is seen one of two ways. One of the ways being that women are to play the role of a hostess for the entertainment of others. For instance, the queen in this text acts as a hostess to the men. However, she doesn’t serve the men; rather she is reassuring them of the social customs and status of the men who the king is surrounded around. In the test it states, “ Wealhtheow came in,
Hrothgar 's queen, observing the courtesies.
Adorned in her gold, she graciously saluted the men in hall, then handed the cup first to Hrothgar, their homeland 's …show more content…

In the text the role of the female monster is played by Grendel 's mother. In which she has the embodiment of masculine energy and goes against the social expectations of what a woman should be and do in society. For example, Grendel’s mother has characteristics in which at the time warrior men should only have. In this society in the text women are monsters when they seek vengeance whereas men are seen as heros. For example,” Sorrowful journey to avenge her slain son” (1276-1278) In this quote we get the understanding that once her son was killed she wanted to kill the person who killed her son because of the love that she had for him and for that she was seen as a monster because that wasn’t an expected behavior of women to have in this society. In Beowulf this made her an outcast because she was seen as if she wasn 't fulfilling her womanly duties since she had the behavior trait of vendanges for her son. This is what made her a monster. If you aren’t the ideal women during this time then you are outcasted.That is why Grendel’s mother is seen as a monster and isn’t even given a name of her own. She is identified as “Grendel’s

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