The Significance of Women in Chaucer's The Cantebury Tales

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The Significance of Women in Chaucer's The Cantebury Tales

In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Cantebury Tales, many stories are told leading to a wide range of topics. One particular and significant topic Chaucer touches on many times is the role of women. In stories such as The Millers Tale, The Knight's Tale, and the Wife of Bath's Tale the women of each story are portrayed extremely different. Alisoun, Emelye, and the wife of Bath, each exemplify three dissimilar ways in which women love. The way Chaucer describes each of these characters is dependent on the out come of each particular story. Chaucer is careful with his word choice and figurative language with each woman, enabling the reader to get a very visual and sometimes humorous picture.

Since the Miller's Tale is a parody of the Knight's Tale there is great wit when it comes to the role that Alisoun plays. Emelye on the other hand, is constructed in a more serious and respectful way. Emelye of the Knight's Tale has two men madly in love with her- Arcite and Palamon. These two men are imprisoned for life and can only imagine the idea of loving and having Emelye as a wife. Palamon upon seeing Emelye cries,

"Into myn herte, that wol my bane ./ The fairnese of that lady that I see / Yond in the gardyn romen to and fro / Is cause of al my criying and my wo. / I noot where she be woman or goddesse. . . (1097-1101).

His statement of love is so profound that Palamon is not even sure if Emelye is a woman or a goddess, but is sure of her "fairness" and beauty. Arcite also loves Emelye and ridicules Palamon's thoughts about Emelye being a goddess, he states, "Though woost nat yet now / Wheiter she be a womman or goddesse"(1156-1157). When Arcite falls in...

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...e and foolish people can act while in love; this is something that many stories try to teach their readers. Finally, somehow, Chaucer may have been reaching out to women with The Wife of Bath's Tale, although some believe she is used as an anti-feminist tool, perhaps Chaucer's point was to have that woman teach other women the positives of being in control. No matter what message these women bring, Chaucer clearly appreciates their importance not only to his readers, but also to his tales.

Works Cited

Brown, Peter. Chaucer at Work: The Making of the Cantebury Tales. New York: Longman Group, 1994.

Cooper, Helen. The Structure of The Cantebury Tales. Athens: The University Of Georgia Press, 1984.

Pursell, Willene van Loenen. Love and Marriage in Three English Authors: Chaucer, Milton, and Eliot. Stanford: Leland Stanford Junior University, 1963.

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