Women In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Due to the virtual absence of women in literary history before 1500, feminist historians and literary critics often turn to Chaucer to satisfy the hunger for valid representations of women. Christened “evir (God wait) all womanis frend” by Chaucerian Gavin Douglas, he appears to be the perfect candidate; however, this urge to fill the gap distorts the way we interpret Chaucer’s female characters. Read as a sign of Chaucer’s empathy with women, or at the very least, his understanding of a female power in an unconventional way, we ignore the obvious constraints Chaucer’s gender and time imposed on him. As a man in a position of power writing about and speaking for women, his representations of women can hardly be praised as something revolutionary …show more content…
For many critics, her prologue and tale redeem any negative depiction of women in Chaucer’s other work, using her as the ultimate proof of his empathy with women. On the surface, it is easy to see how the Wife is interpreted this way: she openly speaks of her sexual experiences and constantly announces how much she loves sex, she turns texts associated with male authority on their heads, and proudly boasts how she had attained sovereignty over all five of her husbands. Thus it appears to the modern reader that the Wife takes revenge on the previous portrayals of the women in the Tales; however, while she may denounce the medieval misogynistic stereotype of women, she does not practice what she preaches. Not only does she embody the stereotype, she also adheres to the very patriarchal power she condemns. The contradiction between what she says and what she does, not to mention the moral of her tale, completely disqualifies her as some sort of radical medieval