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Women In The Miller's Tale

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In The Miller’s Tale, a chapter in The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, women are dependent on men, and described as weak, and submissive. As a result, Chaucer portrays women as mere objects that can be possessed. Chaucer describes women as delicate beings. In “The Miller’s Tale,” when the Miller describes Allison, he talks about her personality: And thus she knew both how to skip and play, Like kids [baby goats] or calves behind their dams all day… Skittish she was, just like a pretty colt. (Chaucer, 205) In this quote, Chaucer uses similes to compare Allison to animals. She is compared to baby goats, and baby cows. are Both of these are weak beings who aren’t able to function independently. Allison is described as “skittish like a …show more content…

The Miller describes this disgusting action as “ingenious”. This shows that men of this time thought invading a woman’s privacy was acceptable and that they didn’t care about women’s feelings. This means that they expected women to be submissive. After pledging her allegiance to Nicholas, Absolon comes to Allison and asks her for a kiss. Before Allison plays a prank on Absolon, she tells Nicholas: “Now hush, my lord, and you will laugh your fill,” (233). A lord is someone who is very high ranking in comparison to you. By calling Nicholas (who isn’t even her husband) my lord, she shows that she is lesser than him. In this society, women are treated as inferior to men. As a result, they become prizes that men can possess. In The Miller’s Tale, women are shown as dependent on men. As a result, they cannot survive autonomously, and must submissive to the men they rely on. This essentially makes the women in The Miller’s Tale objects that men can

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