Chaucer's Women in the Canterbury Tales (use of irony)
The Middle Ages was an interesting time to be a woman. For centuries the church generally disapproved of, with equal measure, women and sex. Women were not even thought of as human beings, and were seen as necessary only in what they could do for their men. When the men left for the Crusades women were given a larger role in the upkeep of their husbands' houses and estates, and assumed a more public role in the community. This gave the women a greater feeling of independence, which they did not relinquish entirely when the men returned. As the men returned from the crusades they brought with them a new found openness to ideas, and a newfound respect for the worship of the Virgin Mary. These are two of the factors that resulted in an image change for women. Women went from being despised, into being respected and often admired. In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, he uses the two women characters of the Prioress and the Wife of Bath as contrasts in order to satirize the church's view of women. Women were admired for being pure, unattainable, and virtuous, and not for any other talents that they might have. They had moved from Eve to Mary. The 12th century also gave us the concept of "Courtly Lov
e", a form of which is still seen in today's modern romance novels. But sikerly she hadde a air forheed; It was almost a spanne brood, I trowe; The two women are contrasts; the Prioress appears refined while the Wife of Bath is clearly middle-class. The Prioress has an appreciation of "Courtly Love" but the Wife just enjoys sex. By showing us the opposite poles of womanhood, Chaucer is rebuking the church for its treatment of women in general, and showing how the church is hypocritical in its actions. The Prioress is a woman who is trying to be what she is not and the Wife has no qualms or regrets about the life that she has lived and does not try to hide her station. The church, one because of her position, and the other because of her money, accepts both. The church's view of women seems to change depending on what the women can do for the church, the more they can do the more accepted they become. The Prioress, who represents the church, is a fraud, while Wife of Bath who does not misrepresent herself in any way, is the way the church should ideally be. Now isn't that ironic? The Wife of Bath is probably on the lookout for husband number six (the Pardoner should watch out)! She is a character that is full of contradictions. The Wife of Bath attends church every Sunday where she is always the first in line for the offering. Normally this would show us her piousness, her devotion to her religion, but the narrator tell us this in order to reinforce the fact that she likes to be in the centre of everyone's attention. Her Sunday headdress "... ful fyne weren of ground I dorste swere they weyden ten pound" This, again, questions her piousness; Does she wear it to show penance or to show off? She wears the headcove
Some common words found in the essay are:
Wife Bath, French English, Middle Ages, Courtly Love, Love Wife, Virgin Mary, Chaucer Prioress, wife bath, Eve Mary, courtly love, Canterbury Tales, Medieval England, church's view women, women women, church hypocritical, view women, women church, prioress woman, church's view, wife bath church, middle ages, bath church,
Approximate Word count = 1175
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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