Since the beginning of literature, women have been depicted as devious individuals. As a result, women put use to this stereotype to get what they want. This is proven, especially in medieval literature. Examples of this are shown in works like “Macbeth,” *Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” and “The Canterbury Tales”. In medieval literature women use men to further their agendas.
Women influence men to do their dirty work. For example in the book “Macbeth” Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to kill his friend, King Duncan, so they could rule Scotland. Her influence being to call his manhood into question. “What beast was ’t, then, that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man” (Macbeth, act 1, scene 7.) Her words did the trick and he killed the king, thus keeping her hands clean and proving that women can easily control a man.
Women tempt men’s willpower with their seductive nature. Medieval women are known for their sexual prowess. One woman in particular is Lady Bertilak from “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight.” The lady uses her beauty and seduction skills to proposition Sir Gawain
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A great example of this is found in the medieval literature “The Canterbury Tales.” In the tale “The Wife of Bath's” the wife gloats about the power she has over all five of her husbands. “I kept my husbands well in hand. I told them they were drunk and their unfitness to judge my conduct forced me to take witness that they were lying” (Canterbury Tales, page 268.) The Wife’s deception against her husband gave her the upper hand in marriage. Stating that trickery was instinct in a woman. “Lies, tears and spinning are the things God gives by nature to a woman, while she lives” (The Canterbury Tales, page, 269.) The Wife’s manipulative ways insured that her husband was always wrapped around her finger, waiting to grant her any