Women In The Canterbury Tales

Females have been treated unfairly throughout history. In the past, women have not been able to speak unless told they could by their husbands, and more recently, they have faced different pay scales than men in the same job field. Due to perseverance and progressive ideas, women have more rights in the twenty-first century than ever before in history, but there were many women before that did not have access to the same freedoms that women do today. What did they wish for the most? The Wife of Bath had some monumental ideas for the answer to that question. She is one of the iconic characters in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Like most of the characters, she comes bearing a tale for the trip. Throughout the tale, the theme that

Ultimately, all the conflicts that he has to face draw off the idea of women’s power. He gives no power to women in the beginning; in fact, he takes one woman’s power away from her. The conflict faced during the tale alters his views on women and their place in the relationship. The most prominent example of this change is seen in how he refers to the old woman. Firstly, he is repulsed by having her as a wife. Then later he refers to her by saying, “My lady and my love, my dearest wife” (line 406). The exchange of power between that point and that excerpt of dialogue is profound.
The old woman’s lesson in the tale is about the power that women want. In the tale, the old woman has an undesirable appearance. At one point in the tale, the Knight says to the old woman, “You’re old, and so abominably plain, / So poor to start with, so low-bred to follow” (lines 275-276). Although spoken of so poorly, the old woman is also a strong female character, and in ways, she symbolizes the Wife of Bath. It is shown through the way old woman shares similar ideas with the Wife. Her old age symbolizes the knowledge that she has, and it makes her a credible