Marriage In The Canterbury Tales Essay

In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer gives his idea on the concept of marriage. The three tales that demonstrate each of Chaucer’s different views on marriage are “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue”, “The Merchant’s Tale”, and “The Clerk’s Tale”. Each of the tales offers its own perspective on the topic of marriage, but it also gives insight on what Chaucer wants his readers to understand throughout the Canterbury Tales. Although most of Chaucer’s views on marriage change in each tale one thing that does become a leading theme is that boundaries and equality lead to a happy marriage. Boundary is defined as a limit in which a person can set on what they will accept based on another person’s actions or words. Boundaries can also be based on one's material, physical, mental, or emotional needs.
The Wife of Bath’s Prologue demonstrates a wife overstepping her boundaries because she wants control over her husband both physically and materially. Alison the wife sees the institution of marriage as a way to take
He believes that the only way to have a happy marriage is by allowing women to be in control of their own lives. Boundaries is defined as a limit in which a person can set on what they will accept based on another person’s actions or words. Boundaries can also be based on one's material, physical, mental, or emotional needs. In each tale the material, physical, mental, and emotional needs of women were all being tested because marriage was not based on love but rather a battle of control. Chaucer believes that if men do not overstep their boundaries when it comes to their spouse than marriage will go smoothly. However, Chaucer has another view on marriage when it comes to age difference. He believes that men should not try to marry younger women because it will lead to a lot of unfaithfulness, but will also make women miserable because they will have to deal with jealous old