Women In Medieval Times

During the Medieval time period, it is evident that women were customarily discriminated against as well as, oppressed by and sanctioned by a certain role within every society. However, the Medieval time period comes with it’s very own historical female figures that set out to renounce and bend these gender roles and social norms regardless of the consequences and social scrutiny that was laid out by the men of their time. It is palpable that religion played a major role in the development of these negative images of women. The first women within the Medieval time period that worked to defy these female stereotypes is the fictional character from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath, and the second woman was a real historical …show more content…
In the reading of, The Book of Margery Kempe, the passage, “When her [Margery’s] crying was passed, she came before the Archbishop and fell down on her knees, the Archbishop saying very roughly to her, ‘Why do you weep so, woman?’ She answering said, ‘Sir, you shall wish some day that you had wept as sorely as I.’”, constitutes her personality (Kempe 163). The manner in which Kempe kneels to the Archbishop connotes the feeling that she has an immense amount of respect for religious leaders however, her ability to figuratively stand up to the priest using her words, shows that she is of higher authority and knowledge as she shares a deep connection with God. Furthermore, her act of weeping reveals her ostentatious and overly emotional religiosity. However, within this weeping, her grave strength is displayed. Her uncontrollable tears and emotions allude to the feeling that this is her act of suffering for God. Kempe gains strength through the suffering of the cunning and crossed words she is related to in the minds of others such as the pilgrims. The pain Kempe suffers from the pilgrims cruel and ruthless treatment of her, builds Kempe’s strength to be fearless of future situations. Unlike Kempe, Alyson does not build her character through God, but rather through sexual desire. However, it is apparent that Kempe and Alyson have many similar characteristics. Alyson shares, “God bade us all to wax and multiply. That kindly text I well can understand...why not marry two or even eight?” (Chaucer 259). This brief quote reveals that sexual desire, rather than God, carries motivation for Alyson. It builds her character of being very deceitful in her way to use God’s words in her favor as shown in the previous quote. Moreover, as Kempe holds the characteristics of having extraordinary