The Canterbury Tales Women

A detailed Summary of The Canterbury Tales Women


The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer is a collection of stories told by a group of

pilgrims on their way to Thomas a' Becket's tomb in Canterbury. Throughout the stories, women

are often portrayed in two opposing ways. The women in these tales are either depicted as

pristine and virginal, or as cunning and deceitful.

First, women are described as being pristine and virginal. This type of woman is always

beautiful and has men vying for her affections. However, she is so pure that it seems she is

unattainable. She is not treated like a real person and people never ask her what she wants. This

virginal woman is captured in the character of Emily in "The Knight's Tale". Emily, who is

described by the author as "radiant and serene" (32) enchants two cousins and cause them to

argue over her. Palamon is so love-struck that he states "Woman or Goddess, which? I cannot

say." (32). He doesn't even know her yet calls her "... my lady, whom I love and serve" (34).

When Arcite is released, he becomes sick because he can no longer see her. He is described as

"Thin as a shaft, as dry, with nothing left./His eyes were hollow, grisly to behold,/Fallow his


takes in a lodger by the name of Nicholas. Since there is a big age difference between Alison

Wife of Bath,the women are shown to be extremely pristine and virginal, or extremely cunning

husband John, he has deceived himself about Alison: she is a fast and easy girl who does not

directly to her, instead he tells the king. Emily is herself immune to love: she has seen neither

Emily." (52) without even asking her what she wanted to do. If he had asked her, he would have

toungue/And every woman's after, for her sake" (384). When May realizes that she has been



Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1762
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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