ipl-logo

Miller's Tale Women

1212 Words5 Pages

The Representation of Women as Objects of Desire within “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer
The representation of women as idealized objects of desire in “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer functions as a way to present the value of women as seen by men. In particular, throughout “The Miller’s Tale,” Alisoun confirms the traditional stereotype of women as being lustful and desirous creatures as well as cheaters. This is identified when she tricks her husband in order to share a night of passion with another man in their bed. It is also represented in the comparison of Alisoun to animals and their actions, which suggests that women are animalistic in their search and need for sexual activity. …show more content…

The men desire the women sexually; however, not in the typical sense or for the normal reasons. Both the Miller’s wife and daughter Malyne are seen as repayment for what two male students lost in monetary value to the miller. In this sense, women and their bodies are viewed as compensation to men who “use sex as their weapon” (Zumdahl 12). The men desire the women as a way to assert their “masculine power over [the miller’s] social-climbing wife and daughter” (Zumdahl 13). It is due to this that sex and desire become symbolic of revenge within this tale. Not only does sex and desire appear to represent revenge, it also lends itself to the basis of prostitution. Although there is no physical exchange of money for sex throughout the tale, there is the exchange of goods and services. For example, Malyne physically gives herself and her body to the men without complaint or argument. Although she does not initiate the sex, she never once tries to stop or fight against it. She presents her body and potentially her virginity as repayment for what her father has done. The Miller’s wife is punished for becoming rather greedy and gullible (Zumdahl 17). After going to the washroom, she returns to the wrong bed. By welcoming the students into their home, the wife was practically asking for trouble. She knew what her husband did by stealing the grain and should have had a basic understanding that the students would want revenge. Their revenge did come through their desire for the wife. Throughout “The Reeve’s Tale,” men’s desire for women is presented for the sole purpose of repayment for all they had

Show More
Related
1166 Words | 5 Pages

Common themes in these stories address the dominance of men towards women which affects the physical and emotional well-being of the female characters. The authors use symbolism, similes, metaphors and dramatic irony to exemplify patriarchal dominance and its suppressive treatment of women. In the early 1900s, patriarchal dominance reigned while women's roles were confined to raising children and taking care of their households and husbands. Men

Read More
745 Words | 3 Pages

The Brown v. Board case was met with white resistance(as every black movement for justice has). White people were angry that black people were actually to be given equal opportunity. The anger established the White Citizen’s Council, which was the KKK with a euphemism for a name. The White Citizen’s Council has the same goals as the KKK such as “preserve the south” also known as preserve segregation, racism and violence. The White Citizen's Council used their power to intimidate black men and women who spoke out against segregation.

Read More
1053 Words | 5 Pages

Each tale reveals moral lessons that attempt to prevent the reader from performing the same mistakes as the character. “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” possess similar themes, distinct differences arise in the topics presented in each passage. “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” illustrates how greed corrupts men, how sin leads to more sin, and how revenge drives men to undertake foolish feats. The differences between Chaucer’s tales allows for a humorous yet insightful

Read More
579 Words | 3 Pages

Stereotypes of Women in The Canterbury Tales Stereotypes of women have not changed throughout the years of history. Throughout the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer portrays women through negative stereotypes. Women are portrayed as selfish, lustful and immoral. In the Wife of Bath’s Prologue women are portrayed as selfish.

Read More
1213 Words | 5 Pages

Medea and the women of Corinth both share, to a different extent, the experience of being unfairly categorized as the caretaker of the family, which aids Medea in persuasion because she can be trusted as a woman to speak on the patriarchal society. She continues as ‘’of all creatures that have life and reason we women are the sorriest lot’’ (229-230) of all the living things Medea describes women as the ‘’sorriest’’ which suggests that women are pitied and helps Medea to allure the Chorus to be on her side. Medea suggests to the Chorus that Females ‘’must at a great expenditure of money buy a husband and even take on a master over our body: this evil is more galling than the first. ’’(231-233) Medea is arguing that women must sacrifice a ‘’great’’ amount of money to ‘’buy’’ their partners. This conveys the patriarchal community in Corinth.

Read More
1227 Words | 5 Pages

He also utilized fabliaux to fill his stories with multiple sexual accounts that poke fun at the rules of courtly love. Chaucer’s humor had three main components – mockery, irony, and sadism. John, an older carpenter, with a young wife, is at the center of “The Miller’s Tale.” Chaucer mocks John for marrying a younger woman and the fact that their relationship does not follow the rules of courtly love. Courtly love suggests that jealousy strengthens relationships and equates to love.

Read More
613 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More
783 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer illustrates to the reader the true characteristics of the Miller and the Reeve by using the aspect of morality to show their related views on love and women. Love, to both the Miller and the Reeve, is frequently associated with beauty, lust, and sexual intercourse. Their vision of love is consistent in both stories; indicating that they care mostly about the women’s physical appearances. This can be easily seen in the stories by the way that the women are described and portrayed. Neither of Chaucer’s story tellers offer much insight into the women’s intelligence or mental characteristics.

Read More
775 Words | 4 Pages

In the book of Wife of Bath’s Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer shows the role of a woman being weak creatures while men are economically powerful and educated. Women are seen as inheritor of eve and thus causes

Read More
1988 Words | 8 Pages

Feminism is the philosophy, found in both literature and society, that the Western world is fundamentally patriarchal. Throughout the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, there are several examples of women being oppressed, as seen through the feminist critical lens. Miller uses male characters to reference to women objectively to help demonstrate this. This teaches that women are oppressed not just in literature, but in life. The female characters gain power in a male-dominated society through an elaborate plot of accusations and executions.

Read More
434 Words | 2 Pages

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, the protagonist desperately tries to live up to the image of a man that his society portrays. The search for his manhood leads him to violent acts that inevitably get him killed. In this tragedy, male and female roles are constantly discussed and defined. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth equate masculinity to violence and aggression. They both believe that in order to be a real man, then a man must perform violent acts when necessary.

Read More
1006 Words | 5 Pages

The issue of patriarchy will also be further elaborated on in this essay and how it affects the characters in the novel, not only in the given passage, but in the novel in general.

Read More
818 Words | 4 Pages

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Miller’s Tale” he uses symbolism as a literary element to create an underlying Christian theme that portrays the characters in the story as biblical figures. Each character of the story represents a different figure from the bible such as, Nicholas and Alisoun representing Adam and Eve, John the carpenter representing a Great Divine and Absolon representing The Devil. Throughout the story, there are many different aspects that highlight the Christian theme and allow the readers to truly see this interpretation. Throughout the story readers may recognize the alignment between Nicholas and Alisoun and Adam and Eve.

Read More
1495 Words | 6 Pages

The role of women in literature crosses many broad spectrums in works of the past and present. Women are often portrayed as weak and feeble individuals that submit to the situations around them, but in many cases women are shown to be strong, independent individuals. This is a common theme that has appeared many times in literature. Across all literature, there is a common element that causes the suffering and pain of women. This catalyst, the thing that initiates the suffering of women, is essentially always in the form of a man.

Read More
721 Words | 3 Pages

How are the women in viewed and treated by men in Shakespeare 's Measure for Measure? Female characters in Shakespeare ’s play Measure for Measure are objectified and are expected to be submissive to the male characters wishes.  The women are expected to be innocent and pure but as soon as they lose their virginity they are labeled as sluts and whores.

Read More

More about Miller's Tale Women

Related Topics

Open Document