Women throughout history have had many roles. In the Middle Ages, women were seen as a problem, where they did not have a place in society, or were pushed into fitting into certain roles. Alisoun in The Wife of Bathe’s Tale and Prologue addresses this problem directly, by saying that she herself does not fit into the “perfect” role of Mother Mary, but is instead a powerful woman who desires obedience from the men she is surrounded by. Writing like The Wife of Bathe’s Tale and Prologue was definitely not common for its time period, mainly because of its pro-feminist ideas; but is this tale and stories like it really feminist or is it a warning for women to not act independently or powerful? Although in this time period, women held no power
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Such as in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight written by an unknown author who also goes by the Pearl Poet, where Gawain is faithful to the one and only Queen Guinevere, who is supposed to be considered to most beautiful, along with the only woman that her men should be loyal to. Men “[held] women as the source of inspiration, the worthy cause of hardship, and as a superiour reason for action in the world,” yet outside of royalty, they held no significance. Yet in The Wife of Bath’s Tale and Prologue, this is not the case. The main protagonist is not male, but female, and instead of her being an unattainable love interest or queen, she is a woman who has married many times and made men metaphorically fall to her feet to obey her every command. In the Wife if Bath’s Tale and Prologue, Alisoun expresses that she does not seek a man’s attention or love unless it benefits her in some way. She states that “a wise woman will always attempt to win love where she has none,” but since she had her past husbands in the palm of her hand, she found no need to “please them” unless it were for her “profit and pleasure” (Chauncer 216). She did not try to please her husbands unless it was really to please herself, and in today’s way of thinking, she …show more content…
This was also a time period where women were “silenced and made powerless by the patriarchy” and “institutionally denied all power” (Unkefer). Even femininity was considered a weakness, so women traded in their basic instincts that made them female for male instincts and way of thinking just to gain respect. Maybe because of this, Alisoun is said to take on a more masculine role in The Wife of Bath’s tale because she “possesses male characteristics or chooses masculine actions” (Forbes 1). It is said that in the story she found a way around the system, that she found a way to work inside a community that was so prominent of masculinity, and that was her way of surviving through it. Alisoun is so out of character for women of her time period, and it is truly puzzling as to why she is portrayed to be so “masculine”. Chaucer’s portrayal of his character Alisoun is so uncommon, because usually women in literature during this time were either unattainable love interests, virginal and angelic like Mother Mary, or the downfall of mankind like Eve. Alisoun does not fit into any of these stereotypes, and because of this and the underlying feminist tones of the tale, Alisoun can be seen as a strong and unrestrained role model for women of that
Such as in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight written by an unknown author who also goes by the Pearl Poet, where Gawain is faithful to the one and only Queen Guinevere, who is supposed to be considered to most beautiful, along with the only woman that her men should be loyal to. Men “[held] women as the source of inspiration, the worthy cause of hardship, and as a superiour reason for action in the world,” yet outside of royalty, they held no significance. Yet in The Wife of Bath’s Tale and Prologue, this is not the case. The main protagonist is not male, but female, and instead of her being an unattainable love interest or queen, she is a woman who has married many times and made men metaphorically fall to her feet to obey her every command. In the Wife if Bath’s Tale and Prologue, Alisoun expresses that she does not seek a man’s attention or love unless it benefits her in some way. She states that “a wise woman will always attempt to win love where she has none,” but since she had her past husbands in the palm of her hand, she found no need to “please them” unless it were for her “profit and pleasure” (Chauncer 216). She did not try to please her husbands unless it was really to please herself, and in today’s way of thinking, she …show more content…
This was also a time period where women were “silenced and made powerless by the patriarchy” and “institutionally denied all power” (Unkefer). Even femininity was considered a weakness, so women traded in their basic instincts that made them female for male instincts and way of thinking just to gain respect. Maybe because of this, Alisoun is said to take on a more masculine role in The Wife of Bath’s tale because she “possesses male characteristics or chooses masculine actions” (Forbes 1). It is said that in the story she found a way around the system, that she found a way to work inside a community that was so prominent of masculinity, and that was her way of surviving through it. Alisoun is so out of character for women of her time period, and it is truly puzzling as to why she is portrayed to be so “masculine”. Chaucer’s portrayal of his character Alisoun is so uncommon, because usually women in literature during this time were either unattainable love interests, virginal and angelic like Mother Mary, or the downfall of mankind like Eve. Alisoun does not fit into any of these stereotypes, and because of this and the underlying feminist tones of the tale, Alisoun can be seen as a strong and unrestrained role model for women of that