Antifeminism in Medieval English Literature
There's a reason that Chaucer's Wife of Bath stands out for many readers as the most memorable character in his Canterbury Tales… and perhaps even in all of medieval English lit. She wants to live her life as she sees fit, and doesn't give a fig for those crusty old clerics who tell her that she can't have just as many husbands as she pleases. She roundly chastises men who buy into the negative medieval stereotypes about women.
You go, girl.
And while we're championing the Wife of Bath, we need to keep in mind that a big chunk of medieval literature was actually written by clerics—those high-powered, high falutin' men who filled the Church offices and who were usually raised and educated by the Church.
Such men were typically well-versed in the late Classical tradition that claimed women just got in the way of men being good scholars and thinkers. Those writers portrayed women as greedy, shrewish, over-sexed gold diggers who only wanted men for their wallets. Actually, they carried purses back then.
But anywho. Classic lit = A lot o' talk about those nasty, evil, good-for-nothin' female temptresses. Ugh.
And the Church's views on women only encouraged this point of view. After all, the Church understood all women through the lens of Eve (the "fallen," disobedient woman) and the Virgin Mary (the image of womanly perfection). Since most women couldn't live up to the unbelievably restrictive and lofty example of Mary, they were, by default, lumped in with Eve…
Which meant they were automatically suspected of being disobedient, dishonest, and prone to sexual hijinks. Huzzah.
Chew on This
Browse through some of the Wife of Bath's pithy statements. What do you notice about her ideas? Does she contradict herself at all? Where do you think she most succeeds at refuting antifeminist ideas?
Morgan le Fay is often placed right in the crosshairs of the medieval antifeminist tradition. Most of the time, she's the big baddie of any tale she shows up in. Read our character description of her as she appears in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. How do Morgan and Lady Bertilak's characters play off of each other? In what ways is Morgan shown as a sexually promiscuous provocateur? In what ways is her character similar to that of the Wife of Bath? How is Morgan different from the Wife of the Bath?