Chaucer's Treatment Of Women In The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer has proven himself to be a social commentator through his work, The Canterbury Tales. In The Canterbury Tales, he describes several different types of people, that may or may not actually exist. These characters have been speculated to be based on real people in Chaucer's life, though this is one of many theories. Through Chaucer's descriptions of these characters we are able to gain insight on the social construct of this era. The Canterbury Tales, was Chaucer's way of vocalizing issues that were prevalent in the fourteenth century. Chaucer respected the religion of Catholicism, just not those involved in the Catholic church. He believed those who were supposed to be the most “religious” ended up being the most corrupt

Women were almost an afterthought during this time; it was the man that received all of the recognition and a woman's only job was to keep the house and have children. There were only a few female characters in The Canterbury Tales, but those few are a telltale sign of how low women were viewed. The nun is supposed to represent what a lady should be, celibate, coy, respectful, etc. Though the nun may not exemplify these attributes in her personal life, she manages to continue to have people perceive her as what she so desperately tries to portray. The Wife of Bath gives a an alternate view of what some women might be seen as, as well during this era. The Wife of Bath has been married and divorced five times and at this point she has figured out what exactly she wants from a man,. She wants a husband so that she can be in control of him, she wants to make all of the decisions and be in complete control one hundred percent of the time. These two women are very different and Chaucer included them to give more of a variety in the story. Having too many of the same type of character can make the story seem flat and uninteresting. The main view of women at this time was that they were nobody until they had