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
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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, churchs view women, women women, church hypocritical, view women, women church, bath church, churchs view, wife bath church, middle ages, prioress woman,
Approximate Word count = 1175
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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