Women's roles in the Canterbury Tales

Throughout history, women develop taken variant roles in society. They nominate gone from doing things kindred beingness a war stand by heel like Joan of obeisance to being a coercive and potent politician like Condoleezza Rice. But in medieval Times, at that place were trine types of women that were socially accepted: the sodding(a), the married woman, and the widow. In his frame fib The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer reflects the attitudes of these tierce types of women within the context of his different tales. He as considerably demonstrates his societys social heirarchy for women. He only if uses this, however, to emphasize his disagreement with the immanent order of things. In his tales, Chaucer portrays the virgin to be pure and the ending of all mens desire, the wife to be completely humbled a mans control, and the widow to be strong willed and independent, yet undesirable, coating the lack of power that women soak up in Medieval times. In The Knights Tale (KT), Chaucer represents Emily as the bonnie and fair virgin. He does this by comparing her to temper, which is a token of purity and innocence.

Young Emily, that fairer was of mein/Than is the lily on its stalk of green,/And fresher in her colouring that strove/With early roses in a May-time grove/--I discern not which was fairer of the both-- (Chaucer KT 177-181) Chaucers use of genius in describing Emily shows her as a virgin, attracting the two protagonists of The Knights Tale to her at first sight. This sounds like a typical love triangle, average it is much more than that. The two protagonists mentioned before catch never even met the woman that they pine for and have only seen her from atop a very magniloquent tower. Even without speaking a word to this beautiful woman, they take the field with each other and have said things such as this; Yet you would treacherously go about/To love my lady, whom I love and serve/ And shall, everyday treasury death cut off my hearts nerve. (KT, 284-287) Arcite says this to Palamon in The Knights Tale subsequently Palamon tells him that he...If you ask to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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