The Evil Rooted In Women :: essays research papers fc

Chaucer, in his egg-producing(prenominal) pilgrimage thought of wo workforce as having an evil-like quality, that they perpetually tempt and take from men. They were depicted of untrus iirthy, selfish and vain. Through the faults of both men and women, Chaucer showed what is right and wrong and how one should live. Under the surface, however, lies a jaded search of women and how they cause for the downfall of men. (chuckiii, 4) Chaucer obviously had truly opinionated views of the courtesy and behaviors of women and verbalised it strongly in The Canterbury Tales. In his collection of tales, he portrayed two extremes in his prospect of women. The Wife of Bath represented the extravagant and solid woman where as the mother superior represented the admirable and devoted following of church. (Chaucer, 8) Chaucer delineated the two characters contrastingly in their appearances, general manners, education and roughly evidently in their behavior toward men. Yet, in the midst of disp arities, both tales unexpended its readers with an unsolved enigma. The Wife of Bath represents the "liberal" extreme in regards to female stereotypes of the Middle Ages.(chuckiii, 4) Unlike most women being anonymous during the Middle Ages, she has a mind of her own and voices herself. Furthermore, she thinks extremely highly of herself and enjoys showing off her sunshine clothes whenever the opportunity arises. She intimidates men and women alike due to the power she possesses. Because of her obnoxious attitude Chaucer makes her toothless, fat and large. Doubtlessly, she is very ugly, almost to the point of "not-presentable." The Prioress, on the other(a) hand, serves as a foil to the Wife of Bath. Chaucer describes her as "tenderhearted" who layabout not bear the sight of pain or physical suffering. She exit cry at the thought of a dog dying. It could represent that she has a frail soul with low tolerance for pain and suffering.(fordham, 16) The latter explanation carries over into the modern stereotypes about women as skittish and afraid members of federation who need to be cared for. (Fordham, 16) Chaucer paints a very delicate and elegant exposure of the Prioress. Her manners of eating are far from the brutish festivals of the time. Chaucer describes her table manners as very graceful, not a drop of anything would fall from her mouth, and she was very polite when taking thing at the table. (lines 131-4). Chaucers last description of Prioress - the letter "A" around her neck that stood for "Amor vincit omnia" meaning "Love conquers all.