The Woman Question: Chaucer in His European Context

In the construction of his authorial persona, Chaucer sought to identify himself with genres of literature that may have been associated with female readership in the medieval cultural imagination, including vernacular devotional writing (Pseudo-Origen's De Maria Magdalena), conduct literature (the Tale of Melibee), and hagiography (the Introduction to the Man of Law's Tale). By exploiting the cultural resonances of these stereotypically women's genres, Chaucer positioned himself as a writer for an emerging bourgeois audience and distinguished his works as compassionate and socially productive.

Chaucer Review 54.3, 2019

Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 1991

Geoffrey Chaucer and the Politics of English as a minority language Fall 2013 English Studies University of Copenhagen Chaucer and the Politics of English as a minority language 16/12/2013 David Gomes zrp475 2 Chaucer's Wife of Bath and the re-invention of women in the late 14 th Century 'Who peyntede the leon, tel me who? By God, if wommen hadde writen stories, As clerkes han withinne hire oratories, They wolde han writen of men moore wikkednesse Than al the mark of Adam may redresse. … The clerk, when he is oold, and may noght do Of Venus werkes worth his olde sho, Thanne sit he doun, and writ in his dotage That wommen kan nat kepe hir marriage!' (III, 693-96, 707-10) Understanding how women lived and their role in society in the late fourteenth century is an ongoing task that raises many questions to which answers can never be definite. Historical evidence and the surviving literature from that time can give us the best guidance in such endeavour, even though one should be cautious when analysing a body of literature which is mostly constituted by male authorship. One particularly relevant example is the book Le Ménagie de Paris (c. 1393), a French medieval guidebook written by a sixtyyear-old man for his fifteen-year-old wife. In it he includes references to some of Chaucer's tales and female characters, Griselda being one of them, as he cites her as a reference to Chaucer and the Politics of English as a minority language 16/12/2013 David Gomes zrp475 3

This paper critically analyzes Geoffrey Chaucer's character Allison of his tale "The Wife of Bath" within the Canterbury Tales. The argument is made that Chaucer intentionally used this character to present his personal feminist ideals to his audience, thereby acting as an advocate for women under the guise of literary author. Evidence will be presented both from the text by analyzing her characterization, imagery, and dialog while the weight of this thesis will rest upon The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer evidence presented by scholars, particularly from the "Chaucer Review" scholarly journal, as well as research conducted on the life and times of women during the medieval era.

This paper critically analyzes Geoffrey Chaucer’s character Allison of his tale “The Wife of Bath” within the Canterbury Tales. The argument is made that Chaucer intentionally used this character to present his personal feminist ideals to his audience, thereby acting as an advocate for women under the guise of literary author. Evidence will be presented both from the text by analyzing her characterization, imagery, and dialog while the weight of this thesis will rest upon The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer evidence presented by scholars, particularly from the “Chaucer Review” scholarly journal, as well as research conducted on the life and times of women during the medieval era.

Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 2021

Geoffrey Chaucer‘s The Canterbury Tales, which contains 24 stories, presents a panorama of his society through the pilgrims‘ stories. These tales engage themselves with numerous issues such as the representation of women and men, courtly love, knighthood, honor, and pious life. These stories have different sources like fabliau, romance, the courtly love tradition, and saint‘s legend. The portrayal of gender plays a highly significant role in these tales that highlight the suppression of women. This study will, in this respect, discuss the problematic depiction of gender and gender roles through the detailed discussion of the female characters in the three selected tales in Chaucer‘s The Canterbury Tales, namely ―The Franklin‘s Tale,‖ ―The Physician‘s Tale,‖ and ―The Man of Law‘s Tale.‖ This discussion will ultimately reveal what kind of attributes these female characters are given in line with the historical, social, and literary context through numerous specific examples from the tales and relevant secondary sources.

In the recent times when large of part of thinking, writing and efforts are made to change the condition of women and also to present the true picture of their position in the society, Geoffrey Chaucer in the Middle Ages (1392) wrote The Canterbury Tales. He depicted women belonging to different groups and positions and in different conditions but all of them were suffering under the male dominated society. Due to the lack of education and authority, women's role has always been confined to the four walls of the house and their rationality, independence and loyalty is questioned. Although the women have been fighting a long battle for freedom, yet their position has still not changed. This paper is an endeavour to put forward the relevance of The Canterbury Tales which was written in 1392 but has truly depicted the unchanged position of women even now. This paper presents that the work of Chaucer was ahead of its time and women's struggle to come out of the shackles of patriarchy is still not achieved.

2003

Throughout medieval literature, women were hailed as agents of instruction and reason and, aided by their supreme wisdom, acted as counterbalancing weight to the brute strength of male heroics. In this, resistance is brought forth against the homogenous and monolith male governed society as a method of de-essentializing female oppression on the complex and contradictory nature of subjectivity. However; although paradoxical in nature, it is jointly important to recognize the fallacy of womanhood as an overarching institution or a means of engendering mass unity. This; the very essence of male piety, constructed the moral foundations under which the systematic "privatization" of women as secondary citizens was cultivated and ultimately deemed acceptable practice. Thus, this gendered antiegalitarianism generated a fundamental exodus of autonomy, supplemented by the broad construction of sovereignty as the "original female sin". Therefore; when assessing this "revered-oppressed" paradox, it is important to note the role medieval literature played in perpetuating this pointedly foolish and contradictory stigma as well as the effects it had upon women throughout the medieval period.