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The Importance Of Power In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

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“This act of violence made such a stir, so much petitioning to the king for her,..” (65-66). Within every relationship the scale of power tends to fluctuate between the man and woman, this however gradually comes to a draw over time. Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, suggests one’s gender determines how much power one will receive. However, just because one receives such power does not mean it must be used. At the beginning of the story the Knight is lost to the idea of men and women being on equal ground, which is shown by his treatment towards the maiden. The King demonstrates his understanding of the balance of power between him and his Queen by letting her have control over the Knight’s fate. Towards the end of the story through his punishment set forth by the Queen, the Knight comes to realize the importance of the power of equality.
During Arthurian times Knight’s lived by a code of chivalry, where they were expected to honor women and stand up for the weak. However, this “Lusty Liver” (59) lived by his own code and …show more content…

Nevertheless, the Knight, the Queen, The King, and the old woman all wanted to receive the same thing, which in the tale not everyone receives the amount of power they want. The Knight was able to become powerful only to lose his power to the Queen. The King is powerless towards the Queen and the Knight, which means he cannot make decisions. Subsequently the Knight was punished, the old woman and the Knight eventually had equal power. Chaucer comments imply that men should be on equal ground with women by respecting and honoring them. If everyone is respectful then being powerful should not matter because everyone will be equal. Men can do what women can do and women can do what men can do, so why is there a problem with power? Simply because one must think they have to rule over one another, being respectful potentially could help you to receive some

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However, in a time when women are seen as submissive, inferior and weak, would Knight have had the privilege to undertake such a risky venture

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That is an idea on what a hypocrite is, in the story most of them are religious leaders, people from the church. Chaucer starts of with the knight, which is an example on how someone should act as person, he is pretty much the example that everyone needs to follow because he is truthful, generous,courteous to everyone and honorable. That was an example on how someone should have

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The knight certainly did not show any sign of chivalry before and after his unsavory act. The knight only seemed to want to take the queen’s deal out of wanting to live than to make up for his sin. After a year and a day of searching for what women desired the most, the knight did find the answer from an old woman, but for the answer the woman wanted the knight to marry her. The knight agrees, but shows little respect for her even after she ultimately saved his life. This is prominent when the knight says, “You’re old, and so abominably plain, so poor to start with, so low-bred to follow; it’s little wonder if I twist and wallow” (Chaucer 192).

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For instance, it is one of the only tales that revolves around men. There is mentioning of women, but as Kruger explains it, "... women are evoked only to be excluded" (129). The absence of women suggests infertility, and thus, projects literary barrenness. Moreover, Kruger believes that the relationship between the three men is a parody of the sworn brotherhood and heterosexual love triangles found in the Knight's Tale, which also disturbs the heterosexual model of writing. Chaucer, with this tale, intended to show the dangers of the attachment to the physical and the disregard for spiritual, allegorical interpretation.

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With the reoccurring element of trials that push the characters to the edge, the authors of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” comment on the nature of punishment and forgiveness. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the author uses punishment and forgiveness to force the reader to acknowledge human pitfalls and the stumbling blocks that pride and chivalry create. Chaucer, through his work in the “Wife of Bath’s Tale,” uses punishment and forgiveness to critique the character’s actions and the idea of autonomy. As the verse romance and the frame story progress, the reader is able to glean the effects of punishment and forgiveness on the story as a whole and the characters that create the story.

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Reluctantly the knight marries the old woman, yet he constantly complains about how old and hideous she is. Therefore, the old woman offers her husband a deal: either she can become young, beautiful, and a cheater, or she can remain old and faithful. The knight tells his wife that he wants her to choose whatever shall make herself happy, for that will make him happy as well. The old woman becomes young and beautiful, while also remaining faithful to her husband. Women have been the subject of subservient roles for centuries and medieval literary icons such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Canterbury Tales both depict plots that disvalue women and their

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“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” begins with an unequivocal incident of sexual assault, yet how that assault and the question of consent are interpreted are complicated in light of Suzanne Edwards’ essay, “The Rhetoric of Rape.” Edwards’ essay provides a new historicist lens to provide a context in which the reader can perhaps reconcile the problematic nature of sexual assault that Chaucer inserts into the “loathly lady” narrative. The rhetoric employed by the law in regards to rape complicates Chaucer’s knight’s crime by creating an atmosphere of ambiguity that raises more questions than answers. The disconnect that occurs between the rapist and his victim seems quite abominable on the part of Chaucer and his narrator in that it is quickly forgiven

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(Chaucer 45-60). Chaucer gives the knight genuine praise to show the virtuous qualities he possesses. Similarly, Chaucer uses the knight in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” to show the importance of honor. The knight shows honor when he promises the queen that he will find what  women most desire, “In the end he chose to go away / And to return after a year and a day / Armed with such answer / As there might be sent to him by god” (Chaucer, 91-94).  

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He continued to work on the tales through a number of changes in both his personal and professional life. He was made a Justice of Peace* in Kent, since he had moved from London. He also became a member of Parliament representing Kent in 1387. A year later his wife Philippa died of causes unknown to history. In 1389 Chaucer got a job as Clerk of the King’s Works.

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In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer utilizes the immoral character of the Pardoner to tell the utmost moral tale through satirical devices, presenting the true greed and hypocrisy that runs throughout the Church, regardless of it attempt to cover it. Chaucer introduces the hypocrisy within the Church through the characterization of the Pardoner, as he is explained to be a man with, “flattery and equal japes./He made the parson and the rest his apes” (“General Prologue” 607-608). “Japes” are tricks, alluding to the Pardoner’s relics, as they are fake; yet, the Pardoner still sells these relics to the Church members as genuine treasures. This creates dramatic irony, because the character of the Church body is unaware of the situation bestowed

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Furthermore,the Knight, “joined [their] ranks to do his pilgrimage and render thanks” indicates the Knight humbles himself. While many believe highly in the Knight,he is able to see the wrong in himself without letting his pride get the best of him. The Knight is embodies what people desire to be. The author intentionally describes the Knight first in order for the audience to have an idea of what a righteous person would be. However, Chaucer also wants the reader to see what qualities they may lack compared to that

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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

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Also in the story the part where the knight commits the crime that propels the rest of the story, “He saw a maiden walking all forlorn ahead of him, alone as she was born. And of that spite maiden, spite of all she said. By force he took her maidenhead” ( 61- 64). In the first quote the knight learns a valuable lesson that when finding a woman to wife and love, you must evaluate her on how she will treat you and love you.

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