Chaucer and Women
Chaucer and feminism go together like peanut butter and ketchup. Great examples of his misogynistic tendencies can be
found in many of The Canterbury Tales’ stories. The story’s premise is a pilgrimage to the city of Canterbury, and to pass the time, a
storytelling competition ensues. In many of these stories, women are not considered equal to men, their characters being stereotyped
and occasionally underdeveloped. In the book The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, women are nothing more than objects that
are meant for men to obtain, such as the old woman in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” and Allison in “The Miller’s Tale.”
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” does not do a justice to women and their rights, exemplified through the old woman. This old
woman gives an affectation of feminism when she reveals women’s secret: they want control over their husbands. But this façade is
easily pierced when she is given control in the choice to either be a faithful old hag or a treacherous beauty, originally asked by her to
her husband, the rapist knight. When he can’t choose and tells her to, she does not know what she wants and simply gives him
everything he wants: a faithful, gorgeous lady. This implies that she does not know what to do when she gets what she wants, as when
she says soon afterward, “Do with my life and death as you like best.” (Chaucer 6) Some critics argue that she may simply want to be
young and beautiful, but if this is true, she is worse than indecisive: she is a hypocritical pretender. She professed the marvelous
benefits of being old and ugly, such as wisdom, humility, and experience, all dissolved if reverted to a younger self. How can she
preach being an ugly senior when, at an opportunity of whim, she just changes her mind and becomes young and beautiful? Whether
an uneducated, indecisive control freak or a twofaced double-dealer, this character presents no good to the vision of women.
“The Miller’s Tale” presents women as unimportant for their opinions, merely an item to use for their needs, accounted for
by Allison. Throughout the entire story, she does not seem to have much to say, going with the flow of the tale. The only time she has
a real thought is when she resists Nicholas’s original courtship. Quickly he overcomes her with his smooth-talking suavity,
pronouncing her easily swayed judgment. Otherwise, she seems to do what Nicholas says, infatuated by him even though she is
married. For the rest of the story she doesn’t do much outstanding, with the great exception of the fantastic butt prank. Unfortunately,
that one sign that there is actually someone under the skin of Allison caused the downfall of all of those around her. Absalom quickly
retaliates from humiliation, “with his iron hot, and Nicholas right in the arse he got.” This causes Nicholas to scream, waking John,
leading to John’s public humiliation and accusation of craziness by trying to explain why he was hanging in a bathtub from the roof of
his barn. When she steps out of line and does something courageous, punishment is dealt to everyone around her. The woman in
“The Miller’s Tale” is clearly not given a fully functioning mind or actions like the rest of the characters.
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, women are nothing more than objects without real ideas, merely used for
men’s gain. The old woman in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” and Allison in “The Miller’s Tale” exemplify this accusation of misogyny.
The old woman hypocritically becomes young after her profession of the good of old age. Allison, for the most part, did not put her
thoughts into the tale, and those she does are either quickly wiped away or have horrible repercussions for those involved. Clearly, to
the author, women were not considered matched with the skill and power of men. Chaucer isn’t a feminist. He is a sexist.
Bathos: That Was Unexpected!
Through the use of interesting and unique literary devices, authors can keep the attention of their audiences and keep them
enthralled in the work. Chaucer is an example of an author who knows how to use satirical devices effectively to make his writing
more enjoyable. In a compilation of tales called The Canterbury Tales, he captures the personalities of his characters through narrating
the stories that they told. In Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” a knight is punished for the rape of a young maiden and is ordered
to find out what a woman most desires. During his journey, he meets an old woman who forces him to wed her in return for the
answer. In “The Miller’s Tale,” a foolish carpenter, John, is cheated on by his young wife, Alison, with a student he has opened his
house to. The student, Nicholas, tricks John into believing there will be a great flood in order to keep him busy while he spends the
night with Alison. Chaucer portrays bathos throughout both of these tales by creating normal and serious situations that turn into wild
and absurd scenes.
There are many elements of bathos in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” beginning with the knight who rapes a young woman. On
its own, this is a very serious event that should not be taken lightly; however, the chain of events leads to ironic absurdity. Eventually,
the knight is wedded to a repulsive old woman, and when she wants them to spend their wedding night together, she finds him upset
and unwilling to partake in any after-wedding celebrations. This is absurd because knights should be the epitome of strength and
courage, yet he is emotionally unstable at the thought of being with this woman. It also exemplifies irony because the very reason he
is wedded to the old woman is because he raped a girl, and now he is hiding from his wife the day of their wedding night. Another
instance of bathos is the fact that the knight’s punishment for rape eventually becomes marriage to an old, unappealing woman. As
unfortunate as it is for the knight, it still ends up working out for him. From the serious and realistic fact that he was unwillingly
wedded to an old woman, it turns to the old woman becoming a beautiful young woman. Going from a serious punishment to an
absurd and strange happening like a woman magically getting younger is a major portrayal of bathos by Chaucer. The use of bathos in
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” allows the reader to stay intrigued until the end.
“The Miller’s Tale” is also very bathos oriented. It begins with John working hard as a carpenter to support his new wife,
Alison. Then, another one of Chaucer’s strange chains of events occurs and he begins hanging bathtubs from his roof in preparation
for a flood. Nicholas’ actions are also an example of bathos. He is first introduced as a student of astrology lodging with the couple.
Then, in a ploy to get John out of the picture, he predicts a rain that would fall “so wildly mad as would/ Have been, by half, greater
than Noah’s flood,” (4). The fact that a simple student predicts a flood greater than Noah’s of the Bible exhibits bathos because God
had already stated that there would never be another flood like Noah’s. It makes some amount of sense for an astronomer to make
predictions such as this; however, it is ridiculous to think another great flood would reoccur. Also, the fact that John believes him
incorporates bathos because someone who is older and should be wiser than this student should know better than to fall for a
prediction such as that. This goes from the seriousness of John believing a catastrophe will take place to the absurdity that a student
convinces an older man who should be wiser that an unbelievable flood would take place. John’s character is a perfect example of
bathos because he is first introduced as a hardworking husband, and is then shown to possibly be going crazy with the fear of a
possible flood. Moreover, his diligence is exploited by Nicholas, which is ironic. By using bathos in “The Miller’s Tale,” Chaucer
added to the story’s humor.
Through the use of bathos, Chaucer keeps his stories interesting and less predictable. For instance, most wouldn’t assume that
the knight in the first tale would be the one unwilling to partake in sexual activities near the end. Even further, it’s difficult to predict
that the fairly normal husband would start stringing tubs up on his roof. Chaucer makes use of this clever device to keep audiences
guessing at the outcome of his tales. It also helps to show multiple sides to each character telling the story. Bathos proves that his
characters telling the stories are versatile and have the ability to go from serious to strange and hold others’ attention in a conversation.
This mirrors people in everyday society because there are times when people are put into serious situations that turn strange and
absurd. Bathos is a difficult technique to plan out and use intentionally. However, when used correctly, it can make a piece of writing
more captivating.
Funny… or Not? Chaucer’s Comedic Strategies Employed in his Tales
Humor, according to the Webster’s New World Dictionary (Third College Edition), is “the quality that makes something
seem funny, amusing, or ludicrous”. However, are cruel situations really funny? In Geoffrey Chaucer’s literary work, The Canterbury
Tales, he tells of itinerant travelers and their pilgrimage to Canterbury. Chaucer employs numerous comical strategies, which could be
considered both funny and cruel. Two prominent tales in which humor can be identified are “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, in which a
knight goes on a quest to find what women most desire, and “The Miller’s Tale” in which those vying for the favor of Alison, a young
girl, come into conflict. In the instances of physical and emotional harm throughout these tales, a sense of cruel humor is displayed.
The “Wife of Bath’s Tale” depicts the story of a knight in both humorous and cruel ways in order to portray comical
elements. The knight must go on a quest and find out what women most desire as an alternative for his death sentence from his crime
of taking a girl’s maidenhead. He comes upon an old lady in the woods, who in return for the answer to the riddle, demands for the
hand in marriage of the knight as repayment. The knight is extremely miserable with his circumstances and as a result outright insults
his wife with the phrase, “you are so loathsome, and so old also“(Chaucer 5). This quote, while stating the obvious, clearly is spiteful
to the old lady who is judged by nothing more than her age and looks by the one who was saved by her; yet at the same time it can be
considered humorous because it expresses the knight’s feelings in a blunt manner. The humor portrayed in this part of the tale is cruel
because of the knight’s insults that pay no attention to what his wife might be feeling about his statements, which is an example of
emotional harm to the old lady. Additionally, an example of humor in this tale is the circumstances by which the knight acquires his
happiness. The old lady offers the knight one of two choices: the first, of herself being young and unfaithful, the second staying old,
and loyal to the knight. She also mentions that she has experience due to her old age. The knight, not really understanding, lets the old
lady choose for herself so she becomes young in repayment for him letting her have the control. Therefore, it’s as if the knight was
being rewarded for nothing more than ignorance and luck. This humor, while not being entirely cruel, was ironic and admittedly
beneficial for the knight though he didn’t know how much influence his reply would have; it was also harsh towards the
characterization of women since the old lady blindly accepted the knight’s reply as one which favors her, when it was merely a stroke
of luck that the knight managed to reply with something his wife approved of. Clearly, the humor used by Chaucer in “The Wife of
Bath’s Tale” is cruel in the first circumstance and also negatively interpreted in the second, which likely is the characteristic of humor
portrayal of the period, or Chaucer’s own unique humor.
Likewise, in “The Miller’s Tale” there are also circumstances where “there is a fine line between humor and cruelty”. Both
Nicholas and Absalom favor Alison, even though she is the wife of another man, and in attempts to woo her, undergo comical events.
The first example is when Absalom kisses Alison’s bottom thinking it was her face. Although at first he doesn’t realize his mistake,
when he finds out, Absalom was quite outraged by this event and even was scarred enough to want to punish Alison with a hot poker.
Exempting Absalom’s need for revenge, this situation does display elements of humor because it is an unusual circumstance that
mocks Absalom. Another event in when humor was portrayed is when Absalom goes to Alison's room and in the dark, Nicholas “let
fly a fart/As loud as it had been a thunder-clap” into Absalom’s face, who was of course extremely squeamish of farts (Chaucer 6).
This event is humorous because of the irony that Absalom received the very thing he was afraid of. Though this was a suitable
punishment for Absalom because of his advances towards Alison, a bit of cruelty was shown through Nicholas’s actions. There is a
sense of slight cruelty in “The Miller’s Tale”, as one could see, because of the violence that Absalom would have wanted to commit,
and a scarring of Absalom because his punishment from Nicholas was the thing which he had a weakness against.
As evidenced in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” and “The Miller’s Tale”, humor, in particular sometimes even cruel humor, is
characteristic of Chaucer’s writings. Though the humor is not always obviously funny, the humorous circumstances in each of the
tales are apparent. Chaucer demonstrates through his use of humor a slice of how life was like during his time period and also lessons
learned through each of his characters. The meanings of the Chaucer’s stories are most likely clearer to those who know some sort of
Chaucer’s background; however, most would be able to understand the majority of these humorous circumstances in The Canterbury
Tales. Chaucer’s use of humor is significant because it is an important facet of his style; it also shows something about his audience,
such as the things they found funny, seeing as he portrayed that type of humor for them.