FREE ESSAY ON GEOFFREY CHAUCER'S IMPRESSION OF WOMEN DURING MEDIEVAL TIMES

GEOFFREY CHAUCER'S IMPRESSION OF WOMEN DURING MEDIEVAL TIMES

Geoffrey Chaucer's Impression of Women during Medieval Times
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales in the late 1400s. He came up with the idea
of a pilgrimage to Canterbury in which each character attempts to tell the best story. In
that setting Chaucer cleverly reveals a particular social condition of England during the
time. In this period, the status, role, and attitudes towards women were clearly
different from that of today.
Two tales in Chaucer's collection specifically address this subject: the Miller's Tale
and the Reeve's Tale. The interplay between the tales and characters further enhances the
similar viewpoints these stories have towards women. In the Middle Ages, most women
married and began raising children soon after reaching puberty. They remained largely
indoors, having no true chance to receive a formal education or to gain any social or
economic power. Husbands commonly had full control of their wives, often limiting their
public lives solely to the family.
" A wife . . . must please her husband and be totally obedient to him, even when he is
unjust and violent." (Blewitt, 662)
In both the Miller's and the Reeve's tales Chaucer presents the women of the household
indoors in all instances. Alison of the Miller's Tale lives in a cottage alone with her
husband John and fly Nicholas, a scholar. Her implied role besides sexual purposes
includes tending to house chores, just as the Miller's wife and daughter in the Reeve's
Tale. Although, the women's sole purpose as a wife comes naturally as one of sexual
purposes a wife's first duty was to provide her husband with an heir, and she could be
divorced if she was barren. 
(Rhinesmith, 601)
The wife must be loyal to her husband and obey him, even when her husband commits
fiendish acts such as affairs. In these two tales, Chaucer brings about the ideas of
protection and immortality. With men often leaving the house to tend to their own chores,
the women of the house have plenty of chances to, "play around" with other men without
their husbands knowing. 
John, the carpenter in the Miller's Tale, constantly worries about his eighteen year-old
wife, Alison. "Jealous he was," the Miller told us, "and he kept her closely caged, for
she was wild and young, and he was old, and thought she would likely make him a cuckold."
(Chaucer, 118) This protection of the women of the home parallels that of Reeve's Tale,
in which Simon, the miller, protects his wife and daughter, Molly, when he finds the
mischievous Alan and John have slept with them. 
"By Holy God I'll have you tripes for daring to dishonor my daughter . . ." Simon
exclaims. (Chaucer, 118) Full of rage, he attacks Alan as to sustain his protection for
his women. Immortality is discussed in the Miller and Reeve's tales in the sense that the
women of both tales have no true sense of integrity. Both John and Simon show some level
of restraint over Alison, Molly, and the miller's wife, for "Restraint is recommended
(for women) in regard to sexual behavior." (Blewitt, 662)
Fly Nicholas, who pays rent to stay with John and Alison, finds John frequently leaves
the house for many days as part of his job. Nicholas is portrayed as the sliest character
in both tales, knowing all for love, sexual pursuits, and astrology. He approaches Alison
one day and makes an intense sexual pass, and after little resistance, Alison accepts the
pass. Alison then readily engages in sex with Nicholas, being assured that John will not
find out. She stops not even once to think of what this will cause to her faithful and
loving husband.
Another such offense comes about when Alison openly sticks her, "Rompi" out the window
for Absolom to kiss. Her overall character seems as one that has no shame. To the same
extent, the miller's wife and daughter, Molly, commit a similar crime of lewdness. John
and Alan, angry at the trick Simon has played on them, decide to sleep with Simon's wife
and daughter that very same night. Carefully and cunningly, John gets Simon's wife into
his bed, while Alan gets himself into Molly's bed. Molly, just as Alison readily accepts
Alan's sexual offer, for Chaucer writes, "They soon were one." (Chaucer, 172) 
John uses a different approach to get Simon's wife, leading her to falsely believe his
bed is actually hers. He instantaneously begins to have fun, but again the wife believes
it is her husband who, "Thrusts like a madman, hard and deep" upon her. (Chaucer, 173)
Although just implied, there exists as much immortality in her actions as that of Molly
and Alison. Having a child whom obviously has already passed through puberty; Simon
should be considerably older than John. Thus the miller's wife must have known that Simon
was not receiving her pleasures in a way in which she could not resist. If such immoral
behaviors exist in Molly's mother there stands no question as to why Molly herself acts
the same way. Not only does she disrespect her own body, but even worse her loyalty
towards her father. She confirms with Alan that her father steals flour, and actually
reveals that he has taken some from them. Just as Alison desecrated her love for Simon,
Molly and her mother did the same for Simon. The two tales reveal a hint of the roles
women of medieval times play socially. That was what was expected and believed of them.
In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the Miller's Tale and the Reeve's Tale each parallel
the others through their representations of women. In a period of time when the overall
outlook on women was different from today, Chaucer depicts the life of women as one
filled with over-protection by the husband or father, extensive chores solely on the
house, and self-immortality. Alison, the Miller's wife and Molly all show or deal with
these characteristics of medieval women. Through their actions, The Canterbury Tales
holds a clear view of one particular social condition of the time, the depravity of
women. 
Bibliography
Bibliography
Blewitt, Ralph. The Middle Ages, "Courtesy Books." Princeton: Princeton Press, 1993.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. New York: Bantum Books, 1964. 
"Geoffrey Chaucer." (http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/19th-authors.html)
Rhinesmith, Harvey. The Middle Ages "Family, Western European." Princeton: Princeton
Printing Press, 1993.