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Antonia Minor
April 15, 2018
3rd Hour
Literary Analysis
The Feminist Criticism In The Canterbury Tales

Women and men have always been seen and treated different, never as equals in any

scenario. A man can do one thing and it is absolutely fine, but if a woman was to do the exact

same thing as him, there is a great chance that the same action will be looked down upon. This is

how the world has worked since the beginning of time and exactly why there is feminism in the

first place (the belief that men and women deserve fair treatment and equal opportunities).

Women are oppressed patriotically, socially, psychologically, economically, and socially. In

every aspect we are looked at differently, if we don't act to the female norm and values made by

men. A woman is supposed to be feminine and participate in girly activities only. Anything

outside of that, that might be looked at as masculine is strange. In literature it is so easy to see

what's happening. The Prologue from “The Canterbury Tales” it is a diverse group of travelers

that would never to placed together in the typical setting. This story shows how women are seen

as because they either act exactly as society wants them too or those that are the complete

opposite in their time. These women don't fit into any of the first three waves of feminism,

(written before it was a thing and before it was an issue to most) but based on treatment it is

more towards the first wave.

In the story the first female character was a nun, a prioress to be exact. She told a high

place over the other nuns, but if wasn't for the fact that it was a woman's job, it would probably

have been a man's position. She was written as the most perfect “lady,” everything about her was

feminine. She ate with perfect manners “No morsel from her lips did she let fall, Nor dipped her

fingers in the sauce too deep,” “And she would wipe her upper lip so clean, That not a trace of
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grease was to be seen.” This is not the normal behavior for a person. Mr. Chaucer wrote her to be

without a flaw. Even though she is in fact a nun, no one can be this precise. In some situations it

is obvious to see when she was trying her hardest to be something she wasn't. “And she spoke

daintily in French…, French in the Paris style she did not know.” She was to me, presented as a

bit weak. “She was so charitably solicitous, She used it weep if she but saw a mouse.” I don't see

the need of tears. They showed her as fragile, dainty, and extremely weak.

There was then a woman that didn't fit the lady classification of her time but she was still

known as a “worthy woman.” She was what they would call a fancy lady, “Are handkerchiefs

were of finely woven ground; I dared have sworn they weighed a good ten pounds.” Her name

was The Wife of Bath, she didn't get the name from her husband, but the name of a town in

England. The fact that her name was just wife is wrong. She was given a title and that was it, she

is only associated with being a wife. But I do feel like she played this to her advantage, “she’d

had five husbands, all at the church door, Apart from other company in youth,” She was known

for having been married a lot which was differently shamed, but she used the men to get what

she wanted. “She’d been to Rome and also to Boulogne, St. James of Compostella and Cologne.”

In the story they talked about her having a job but being a wife was her better profession. I feel

like they try to oppress her psychologically and socially, but she flipped the script on the men,

by making them do whatever she wanted. And it doesn't seem like any of them picked up on

what she was doing, “And knew the remedies for love’s mischances, An art in which she knew

the oldest dances.” They also pointed out some of her features, “she had gap-teeth, set widely,

truth to day. Easily on an ambling horse she say,” she didn't have a perfect face and they

compared her to a horse. She didn't fit the unrealistic beauty standards made by men and she still

didn't care, because she had suiters, and she got whatever she wanted from those who adored her.
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The story also goes to add that she is still quite the looker, “bold her face, handsome, and red in

nue.” I still wondered was the use of the word “handsome,” there to call her manly looking.

There was also another nun, Cecilia. And like most (all of them really) nuns, she was a

virgin. She loves the story of the Virgin Mary so much that she wants to remain one forever. This

was a choice she made but I feel like the pure look is something that men created to make

women who are more sexually active feel ashamed. Later on in her story she is on trail and is

sentenced to death. Which back in that time was not that rare for a punishment/crime. But this

was just them trying to patriotically oppress her. It still didn't work because she still survived the

boiling water. An in her final end she became a saint, because she proved herself and everyone

realized who she was. She wasn't just some girl, she was a powerful female with someone

watching and helping her along the way.

The women of this time were oppressed in many ways. It was socially because if they

didn't fit into the ladylike standards they were ridiculed. Psychologically because of them trying

to use titles and labels to make them feel like that's all they were. Economically for sure because

most of them were just housewives. Not even having real jobs, it only being to do what their

husband needed of them. Also patriotically since they were never given any real chances to do

much in government or for their country. There is a big reason why we still need feminism and

to work on matters of these.I say this because it is not fair that because of your gender, you are

not give the same treatment, and opportunities as those of the opposite sex. The Canterbury Tales

was an older piece of literature that showed how women are seen and treated, because they either

act exactly as society wants them too or those that are the complete opposite in their time.

Work Cited
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“The Canterbury Tales.” The Second Nun's Prologue and Tale, 2016,

www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/c/the-canterbury-tales/summary-and-analysis/the-second-nuns-

prologue-and-tale.

Brizee, Allen. “Welcome to the Purdue OWL.” Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of

Criticism, 30 Mar. 2018, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/11/.

Friðriksdóttir, Jóhanna. “Chaucer’s Female Characters In the Canterbury Tales:” Skemman, May

2010, skemman.is/bitstream/1946/4941/1/thesis.pdf.