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Women In The Canterbury Tales Analysis

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In The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, women are treated as objects and sexual entertainment. Women are defined by their beauty, social standings, and upbringing. What women want is control over men and to be defined by their wisdom and intelligence. Several female characters, two in particular, Alice and Alisoun support the strength of women and reject that fact that they are looked at as less than men. The women have little control over the men and they slowly gain their power by manipulating men and using their sexual desires to entice them, thus giving women more control over men which is very rare. Alice uses manipulative behavior to trick men into giving her control in the relationship. Alisoun uses her sexual appeasement to draw men into her and convince them to satisfy her needs. Both women are using their decisive ways to gain sovereignty over men, and to create a stronger social role for the women of the time. The Wife of Bath 's, also known as Alice had several husbands that she was able to trick into giving her the control in the relationship. She viewed herself very highly. The way she spoke, and the ideas she presented, she was depicted with great power. She gained this depiction through her intelligent ways. Chaucer describes her as very ugly and unwanted. Alice was viewed as having a mind of her own and being able to speak her thoughts. Alice supports the strength of women and she rejected the fact that she was looked at as less than a man. Alice
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In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer uses the tale as a fable to reveal the human nature of shallowness by its plot and characters. The story begins from the ancient days of King Arthur, when the “hero” of the story condemned sexual assault, but then was saved by an ugly woman. Chaucer created characters that are lusty, greedy, materially desires, and amazingly shallow in order to compare and comment on the lifestyle of the higher classes at the time. From the start of the story, Geoffrey Chaucer illustrated how foolishly shallows the young Knight is in comparison to the upper classman.

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Geoffrey Chaucer used the Canterbury Tales to highlight some of the problems in his culture. Chaucer points out specifically the corrupt religious leaders and the role and view of women.

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