Passive Women in Chaucers Canterbury Tales Essay

Passive Women in Chaucers Canterbury Tales? One argument that reigns supreme when considering Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is whether or not there is an element of anti-feminism within the text. One thread that goes along with this is whether or not the women of The Canterbury Tales are passive within the tales told. This essay will explore the idea that the women found within the tales told by the pilgrims (The Knight’s Tale, The Miller’s Tale and The Wife of Bath’s Tale to name a few) are not passive at all, but rather influence the turn of events within the stories. It is seen even in the first tale told – The Knight’s Tale – that the women portrayed within it are not passive at all, but, as previously stated, manage†¦show more content†¦Later on, even, when it is evident that Emelye is going to be wed to one or the other, she prays to her goddess and states that she does not wish to be a wife, but if she must be married, that she be married to the one who loves her the most. It is not necessarily passivity that she shows by her latter statement, as if she were a truly passive character she would have accepted either one to be wed to, not specify that whoever she weds is the one who loves her most. The women may not have been the truly main focus of The Knight’s Tale, but even so, it is easily read that they are not passive. In Jill Mann’s book, Feminizing Chaucer, she states, â€Å"male heroes are, as I have already noted, few and far between in Chaucer. In the Canterbury Tales, the moral high ground is occupied by Constance, Griselda, Cecilia, Prudence, and no man is accorded the central and dominating position in the narrative that they enjoy.† So, if women hold the moral high ground in the Tales, then how can they be passive? For one to be considered a â€Å"hero† or â€Å"heroine† in most literature, they must physically or mentally do something or abstain from something else. 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