The Knight's Tale Feminist Essay

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The Canterbury Tales in the Eyes of a Woman Feminism: The advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men (Oxford Dictionary). The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffery Chaucer, is collection of tales told by “Pilgrims” on their journey from England to Canterbury. Amongst these Pilgrims are two women: the Nun and The Wife of Bath. In The Knight’s Tale and The Wife of Bath’s Tale, we are introduced to three more female personas: Hippolyta, Emily, and The Old Woman. In these stories, the women are often times shown in either a negative or weak light. Chaucer, in The Canterbury Tales, uses women as an example to show: that women are not only as moral as men but that a woman is only useful to be sexually obligated in some way to a man.…show more content…
She was wedded five times and firmly believed that God said to “Go and be fruitful,” so that was what she intended to do. While she does not have children, it is unknown to us whether she was unfertile, laid with men who were unfertile or if she used other means of birth control. The Wife of Bath is further described to be sexually liberated and very open about her ideals and experience. In Michael Corosone’s “Geoffery Chaucer: Feminist or no?” He states “Is she a feminist? Yes…Her strong will to survive is only surpassed by her strong will to defend her position as a woman, and the positions of other women” (1). Because of her sexual image, she is not seen as an appropriate vessel for God’s word. She is also not seen as a wholesome and moral woman. Chaucer spent so much time crafting The Wife of Bath in a negative light that the audience begins think the only thing that she could do that was good was lay with a man. The Wife of Bath is a strong example of a Feminist that has been cast aside by a mans
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