FREE ESSAY ON WOMEN IN CANTERBURY TALES

WOMEN IN CANTERBURY TALES

Oliver Thompson
English 4 with Mr. Edson
November 3, 2000
Women in the Canterbury Tales
Throughout the Canterbury Tales women are treated as objects. In the Knight's Tale a
beautiful maiden is sought after by two men, men willing to do whatever it takes to have
her. The carpenter in the Miller's Tale married a young and beautiful women, and she is
pursued by two men because of her beauty. Two students exact revenge upon a miller in the
Reeve's Tale by sleeping with his wife and daughter, taking their revenge on the miller
by violating his possessions. Finally, in the Wife of Bath's Tale a knight rapes a woman,
and then despises his wife because she is ugly and poor. By acting this way the knight
displays ignorance in his attitude towards women, treating them as nothing more than
objects. Women in the Canterbury Tales are often given a worth, defined by their looks,
upbringing, and wealth. Women are not sought after for their intelligence, knowledge,
ability, or wisdom. It is only in the end of the Wife of Bath's Tale that Chaucer uses
the knight and the old woman as an example of how men should view women, and how there is
more to women than beauty and money.
The Knight's Tale puts a beautiful woman on pedestal, likening her to a goddess. Two
prisoners fall in love with this woman, Emily, without knowing anything about her
desires, her ambitions, or her personality. The two men want her for her beauty, treating
her like a sports car, or a trophy wife. It goes so far as there is a contest, and the
winner receives Emily as the prize. Ready by battle to decide his claim/ To Emily. (52)
The Knights Tale exemplifies chivalry, yet despite this women are still objectified and
viewed as possessions, not human beings. 
The woman in the Miller's Tale is a young wife of an old carpenter. He knows he is not
what a young wife desires, but that did not stop him from marrying her. A student wants
to sleep with her, he is after sex and this young woman complies with him, offering
little resistance. In the following quote the wife of the carpenter agrees to love
Nicholas after a single conversation with him. Unless I have my will of you/ I'll die a
secret love.../In the end she promised him she would/ Swearing she'd love him.(91) The
woman is merely the desired object in this story; she serves no purpose but to inspire
the men to humiliate themselves and others.
In the previous tale, the miller tells a story about a carpenter being tricked by a
student. Now, the reeve tells his tale about a miller being tricked by students, and not
only do they sleep with his wife but his daughter as well. This tale focuses more upon
the miller and the students, Alan and John, showing how the miller cheats the people when
he grinds their grain, and how the students are determined to stop the miller from
stealing their flour. The two students fail to stop the miller from stealing their ground
corn flour, but when they stay overnight at the miller's house, they decide to exact
revenge. The miller and his wife go to bed drunk, and Alan justifies taking advantage of
Simpkin's daughter in the following quote. 
The law grants easement when things gan amiss
For, John, there is a law that gans like this:
If in one point a person be aggrieved,
Then in another he shall be relieved. (115) 
The two students use sex with the miller's daughter and wife to ease the humiliation of
being tricked by the miller. The students sleep with both women, and by violating the
miller's wife and daughter they are devaluing them, and in turn hurting the miller
because of his association with them as the husband and father. The women are not seen as
having minds of their own, which dehumanizes them in the eyes of the reader.
A knight rapes a woman, and the king decrees that the knight is to be executed. The queen
begs for his life and gives him a condition, that unless he can discover what a woman
truly wants in a year and a day, he will be decapitated. The Wife of Bath's Tale shows a
knight deeply mired in the belief that woman are only worth something when beautiful and
rich. You're so old, and abominably plain, / So poor to start with, so low-bred to
follow; / It's little wonder if I twist and wallow! (289) The knight looks at his new
bride, and all he cares to see is her age, poverty, and low social status. She refutes
him, stating that gentlemen and gentility are not exclusive to the upper class, that a
good man is a good man no matter his position in life. A fire burns bright both in the
middle of a forest where no one can see, and in a fireplace in a house where many people
can enjoy it. So too are gentlemen and kind people, just because gentlemen are not seen
in the public eye does not mean they are not gentlemen. The old woman denounces the
knight's prejudice against poverty by stating that Christ chose a life of poverty, and
preached against materialism. Last of all, the woman addresses her age, telling the
knight that a true gentleman respects age and the wisdom that comes with the passing of
many years. The knight realizes that her words are the truth, and accepts her for who she
is. 
The Canterbury Tales portrays women as objects rather than human beings. In all four
tales women did not hold jobs, were not educated or upstanding members of society, and
did not appear to have minds of their own. The women acquiesced to the will of the men in
the stories, their thoughts and views deemed unimportant by the men in society. It is not
until the Wife of Bath's Tale that we see a man recognizing the importance of an
intelligent wife.