Women’s Issue in Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”

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The theme of feminism has unfolded in different ways throughout literary history, as the direction of stories and histories has changed in response to sociopolitical agendas. Modern twenty-first-century literature is replete with examples from a feminist perspective. However, we should also remember that the struggle for women’s rights and respect for women was also evident in earlier literature. Among the authors who have looked at men as part of the women’s issue is The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer used women’s experiences to portray men as evil and poor creatures in his stories to reflect the daily routines that women have to face.

The most evocative depiction of feminism and the plight of women can be found in the story The Wife of the Bath. The female character in this story is the closest thing to feminism because it completely contradicts the notions of female behavior of the time. First, this can be seen in the behavior of the wife of the bath: she is sexually liberated and believes that multiple sexual partners are not the privilege of men (Lipton 336). The woman is opposed to the historical culture and the church’s chastisement of the preservation of virginity. This idea is also most relevant in contemporary society, so the image of the wife of the bath is a kind of struggle against sexual violence (Valley). Moreover, Chaucer shows how difficult it is for the heroine to take on religious motives and ideal femininity according to the canons of church and society (Melville). Although Chaucer had a positive attitude toward Christianity, this did not prevent him from pointing out the church’s shortcomings concerning opinions about women. Second, the protagonist opposes male domination of marriage and relationships: marriage is a mutual obligation, and failing to fulfill it renders marriage meaningless. In terms of Chaucer’s time, this is an entirely new idea that has not previously been raised so widely in the literature. Most likely, his marriage and the burden of doing household chores together influenced Chaucer’s understanding of the need for equality. Third, Chaucer’s female character is a strong-willed woman with enough courage to use violence. She tells the audience that one of her husbands hit her so hard that she went deaf in one ear – but she was not afraid and hit him back (The Tale of the Wife of Bath). This is not the ideal medieval woman – she does not possess the meekness and tranquility that was extolled in society. Her image is far removed from medieval notions of beauty and women’s behavior, so it could be argued that Chaucer used feminist ideas and embodied them in the character of the wife of the bath.

The feminist idea of Geoffrey Chaucer can be expressed in the image of the woman in the story The Wife of the Bath. The main character does not conform to medieval conceptions of women, so she may represent Chaucer’s understanding of the female experience. First, the woman in the story disagrees with the church’s celibacy, closeness, and humility: she protests against sexual intimacy. Second, the heroine does not accept the man’s primary role in marriage and denies that domination will allow the relationship to develop and be successful. Thirdly, she has the will to disagree with the violence in her direction and to resist it. Consequently, the collective image of the wife of the bath can be considered a manifestation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s feminism.

Works Cited

Lipton, Emma. “Contracts, Activist Feminism, and the Wife of Bath’s Tale.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 54, no. 3, 2019, p. 335-351. doi: 10.5325/chaucerrev.54.3.0335

Melvile, Alexandra. “Female ‘soveraynetee’ in Chaucer’s ‘The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.” British Library, 2019. Web.

“The Tale of the Wife of Bath.”Owl Eyes, no date. Web.

Valley, Megan. “Teaching Consent: More Lessons from the Wife of Bath.”University of Notre Dame, 2020. Web.

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