Women In The Canterbury Tales

The Wife of Bath: Satire and the Place of a Woman Geoffrey Chaucer's short story "The Wife of Bath", within The Canterbury Tales, describes the unidealistic life and the role of women in the Late Middle Ages. With each containing similarities and differences of the other, the prologue and tale describe the lives of two women, an old hag and the Wife of Bath. Chaucer tells the story of these to women in order to relate them to the times and ideals of their Medieval society. Within these two short stories, Chaucer's use of satire allows for the trichotomic situation to arise between the role of the woman in marriage, the patriarchy, as well as the views of women during these times and how it was inherently antifeminist. Beginning with the
Wife of Bath's prologue, the narrator, Alisoun, tells the story of her multiple marriages. The admittance of multiple marriages, in the narrator's mind, allows her to have a greater idea of the practice of marriage and the roles of each party within. This, however, taking into account the time period, is extremely looked down upon as women were expected to marry once and it to be a lifetime commitment. By Chaucer having this woman be a deuterogamist, he satirizes, or rather mocks, the present societal views of marriage and it sacredness. The Wife often disagrees with the Christian views of marriage, in that most believe it is the duty of the wife to remain chaste while often arguing that "it is not a commandment" and that she will "use [her] instrument as freely as God gave it to [her]" (Chaucer 202-203). Her supposed "crudeness", in her decision to discuss sex and immodesty, further distinguishes her from the rest of the female community. Later, though, when she discusses her part in the marriages to five separate men, the Wife expresses her desire for complete control over her husbands and this is ultimately the only way for wise wives to thrive. In her mind, she had to acquire "power and financial independence through the use of her body" (Trudeau par. 5). This drastic goal was the epitome of female vices and directly exaggerated the role of women in marriage, that they should be dominant over their husbands. Chaucer satirized the view of women in the 14th century by using the Wife to undermine the prevailing belief that women should be submissive in their relationships with man. With respect to the tale, patriarchal society and mans' dominance is ridiculed through Chaucer's use of satire.
The tale begins with a knight of King Arthur sexually assaulting a woman, and subsequently being sentenced to death. However, he gets out of his sentence because the Queen petitioned to decide the knight's fate, and she gave him a quest to find what women most desire. This authority that the King gave the Queen shows that she had control of hum even though he is seen as the most powerful of all. Also by putting the fate of the knight in the Queen's hands she is able to control the will of this man. Chaucer mocks the nobility of knights by forcing one to be subjected to the will of women. The knight ultimately succeeds in his task of finding what women most desire, only because of the assistance of a ugly old hag. Without relying on the help of this woman he would have been sentenced to death. This goes against the respected view of men and their superiority towards women. The knight, having been forced to marry the hag, put her in a "position of control and demoting the Knight to a position of submissiveness" (Trudeau par. 7). Chaucer pokes fun at the lack of power of the knight and control of the hag. When it comes to the appearance of the hag, she claims that it is up to him, but it is actually in her control because the knight realizes the control the hag has over him: "once the husband in her story had granted his wife what women want most in all the world—sovereignty... [then the husband] yield the other the 'mastery'" (Brewer par. 1). The position of the knight directly mocks how men were supposed to be noble, powerful, and in control of all things in their lives. Chaucer uses the hag to satirize how she had the ability, not the man, to save the knight's life, further characterizing the new position if
women. Women in the Middle Ages were treated with no respect and had no influence in the outcome of their lives. People in this society were ultimately antifeminist in that they gave no credit to women, and assumed they would not be able to accomplish the same things as men. Chaucer, however, defends the idea that women are stronger than men and some are able to have dominance over the all-powerful men. In the Wife's prologue she decides that it is a woman's right to "have command over his [the husband's] body during all his life, not he" (Chaucer 204). Chaucer, through the Wife, presented to the strict gender roles of their society, a new way of thinking, and no matter how aggressive it seemed, was for the benefit of all women. Some believe, though, that Chaucer was poking fun at the lame-duck attempt for women's rights, because of the vulgar attitude and presentation of the Wife. But, this is untrue in that, Chaucer made every attempt to show the strength of women and how they impacted everyday life. Also he shows that the traditional Christian values they have are outdated and unequal to women and that Biblical scripture was often unclear, and sexist towards them. However, in the Wife's tale, the power the hag showed over the knight "provides a milestone for women's quest for self-definition", and that she ultimately decided the fate of her and her husband (Trudeau par. 7). Chaucer repeated use id satire against the current views of women and presenting own provide a great argument for the advancement of women's rights in society, by telling two stories, in their own respects, exemplifying the capabilities of 14th century women.