Who Wears the Pants? Canterbury Tales as an Anti-Feminist Novel
...f infidelity. This stability in the marriage can be traced directly to Griselda’s utter submission. A contrast to this tale, the Wife of Bath’s story offers that women should be treated as equals. On the surface this tale seems to be triumphing feminism, proclaiming that the one thing women desire most is the freedom to make decisions. However at the end of the story when the dubious knight allows his haggish wife to decide for herself whether to be good and homely or wicked and attractive, she becomes an attractive maiden and a good wife. The knight was not submitting to the woman because he thought it was right to do (based on his prior behavior we can be sure he does not respect women) but he does it because he knows that is what the woman wants to hear. He manipulates her and in return gets a beautiful wife with the loyalty of Griselda, and a happy marriage to boot. These two stories both illustrate how a marriage should be and how happy and perfect they can be if the man is in control. Chaucer does not stop at just showing how happy a marriage can be when the man is in control, he also shows what happens when the man is not in control and the woman is left free to do as she pleases. Both the Miller’s Tale and the Merchant’s Tale involve young attractive women holding dominion over their decrepit husbands. In the Miller’s Tale the doting, yet old husband is cuckolded by a younger man due to his wife’s lecherous eye. Their marriage is scarred by infidelity because the wife is left free to do as she pleases. In these two tales it is made exceedingly clear that Chaucer firmly believes that any woman left to her own devices will betray her man. Chaucer even goes so far as to list all the times women betray men, twice in the novel, one of these lists occurs on page 401 of the Merchant’s Tale. In the Merchant’s Tale an enfeebled, blind, old man tries to dominate his wife but she resists and deceives him. This is another example of women betraying the trust of men. Chaucer uses these two tales to reason that if women are left to do as they please they will eventually cuckold their husbands. Therefore it stands to reason that the only way to have a wife that is true, and along with that a happy marriage, is to dominate the relationship and not allow the woman to make any decisions. Chaucer uses the actions of the characters he creates to express his views on marriage; however, his character’s influence does not just end at marriage. Chaucer intentionally crafted all of the independent female characters to be unlikable, and further cements his firm opposition to estrogen. The only admirable and morally sound woman in the selected marriage tales is Griselda, the woman who submitted completely to Walter. A selection of any other woman from any of the other tales would reveal lecherous harlots who betray their husbands, and manipulate men to get what they desire. In Chaucer’s mind a woman’s only purpose is to serve her husband and deliver an heir. Any woman, who tries to do what she wants, is discredited as being motivated only by sex or money. This viewpoint also in turn discredits any supporters of feminism, and denounces feminism as merely a tool for manipulation, not a valid ideology. The strongest discredit of feminism comes through Chaucer’s clever creation of the Wife of Bath. Initially this woman who has been married five times, thinks virgi...