Alison’s War on Religion and Sovereignty The fourteenth century was a very oppressive time for English women living under the shadow of the patriarchy. Men controlled nearly everything: marriage, property, the holy church, and all of academia. Women were commonly seen and treated as less than their male counterparts, often lacking basic education and career options. Male authors from the fourteenth century often portrayed many patriarchal influences against women in their writing. Such was the case with Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, since a majority of the characters were males expressing patriarchal ideology through their prologues and their tales. However, Chaucer also includes a female character that diverges from the patriarchal
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In the Wife of Bath’s Tale, Alison uses the females to show a general theme of female sovereignty, in which women control a man’s fate. Here, she also demonstrates the necessity and manipulative power of women over men, which parallels Alison’s character as described in her prologue when she overpowers and manipulates her husbands into giving up their property. As Crane states regarding the Wife of Bath, “Geoffrey Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale so closely illustrates the concerns of its prologue that critics agree it can only be understood in relation to its assertive, female, marriage-minded narrator” (Crane 20), implying that the Wife of Bath’s Tale includes many of Alison’s feminist ideals and beliefs. For example, when the king let the queen take control of the knight’s fate, it shows that Alison wants power to transfer from men to women. Also, when the queen asks the knight,“what is the thing women most desire?” (Chaucer 301), Alison seems to further the notion that women are important. Crane makes the claim that, “The Wife’s tale confronts the social belief that feminine power should be strictly limited, and it attempts to establish a defense of secular women’s sovereignty that opposes conventions” (Crane 20), suggesting that Alison displays her mission to defend women's leadership and independence through the theme of femininity and anti-patriarchal norms in her
In the Wife of Bath’s Tale, Alison uses the females to show a general theme of female sovereignty, in which women control a man’s fate. Here, she also demonstrates the necessity and manipulative power of women over men, which parallels Alison’s character as described in her prologue when she overpowers and manipulates her husbands into giving up their property. As Crane states regarding the Wife of Bath, “Geoffrey Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale so closely illustrates the concerns of its prologue that critics agree it can only be understood in relation to its assertive, female, marriage-minded narrator” (Crane 20), implying that the Wife of Bath’s Tale includes many of Alison’s feminist ideals and beliefs. For example, when the king let the queen take control of the knight’s fate, it shows that Alison wants power to transfer from men to women. Also, when the queen asks the knight,“what is the thing women most desire?” (Chaucer 301), Alison seems to further the notion that women are important. Crane makes the claim that, “The Wife’s tale confronts the social belief that feminine power should be strictly limited, and it attempts to establish a defense of secular women’s sovereignty that opposes conventions” (Crane 20), suggesting that Alison displays her mission to defend women's leadership and independence through the theme of femininity and anti-patriarchal norms in her