“It happened that King Arthur had in his court a lusty squire who one day rode along the river where he saw a girl walking ahead of him, alone as she was born, and, despite her resistance, he ravished her” (Chaucer 184). During the Middle Ages, because of the story of Adam and Eve, it was believed that all women were inherently sinful and an instrument of evil. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer illustrates the struggle that women were faced with their entire life; in all circumstances, men controlled their actions, feelings, and inevitably, their fate. In both “The Knight’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, Chaucer uses ignorance towards the feelings of the female characters to exemplify society’s view on the treatment of women. In “The
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As a knight was riding along a river, he saw a woman in her lonesome, and because he hedonistically wanted to, he raped her. After being brought to King Arthur’s court, because “such an outcry and such protest was made”, he was condemned to death (Chaucer 184). The Queen and ladies of the court begged for the King to have mercy, and instead, the knight was given to the Queen to decide his fate. As his so-called “punishment”, he was sent on a quest to find the answer to what it is that women desire most. “The knight was sad and sighed deeply, but what could he do? He was not able to do as he liked” (Chaucer 185). Just as in this tale, rape continues to take place, but the knight’s reaction to being punished for his actions, exemplified that it wasn’t customary to receive such chastisement. As the knight’s quest was ending, he found himself without an answer to the Queen’s question. One day, as he was riding by the side of a forest, he discovered an old, hideous woman. After explaining his predicament to her, she made him swear that he would do the next thing she asked, and if he did, before nightfall, she would tell him the answer to his question. The old lady, after telling the knight the answer and him being set free by the Queen of further punishment, asked that he marry her. “… the logic of the marital reward the rapist ultimately receives make new sense …where the language of rape covered and elided feminine autonomy” (Edwards 2). In the end, the knight seems to actually have been rewarded, showing how the sexual violation of the woman was
As a knight was riding along a river, he saw a woman in her lonesome, and because he hedonistically wanted to, he raped her. After being brought to King Arthur’s court, because “such an outcry and such protest was made”, he was condemned to death (Chaucer 184). The Queen and ladies of the court begged for the King to have mercy, and instead, the knight was given to the Queen to decide his fate. As his so-called “punishment”, he was sent on a quest to find the answer to what it is that women desire most. “The knight was sad and sighed deeply, but what could he do? He was not able to do as he liked” (Chaucer 185). Just as in this tale, rape continues to take place, but the knight’s reaction to being punished for his actions, exemplified that it wasn’t customary to receive such chastisement. As the knight’s quest was ending, he found himself without an answer to the Queen’s question. One day, as he was riding by the side of a forest, he discovered an old, hideous woman. After explaining his predicament to her, she made him swear that he would do the next thing she asked, and if he did, before nightfall, she would tell him the answer to his question. The old lady, after telling the knight the answer and him being set free by the Queen of further punishment, asked that he marry her. “… the logic of the marital reward the rapist ultimately receives make new sense …where the language of rape covered and elided feminine autonomy” (Edwards 2). In the end, the knight seems to actually have been rewarded, showing how the sexual violation of the woman was