Chaucer’s personal life
- Chaucer lived from the 1340s to the 1400s.
- ‘The Canterbury Tales’ were written from 1387 to 1400.
- Chaucer was descended from two generations of vintners (wine resellers).
- Chaucer was hired as a page for the Countess of Ulster at 14. As a member of the Countess’
French household, French poets, such as Guillaume and Deschamps, would likely have provided
literary inspiration. Indeed, many of Chaucer’s earliest works, ‘The Book of the Duchess’ and
‘The Parliament of Birds’, rest on heavy French bases.
- Around 1366, Chaucer married Philippa Roet, the daughter of one of the king's knights.
- Through connections with his sister-in-law, Chaucer was able to gain employment as a diplomat
and later an office in the London customs house, where he traded wool: one of England’s chief
exports in the late 14th century.
- Chaucer’s job involved monitoring “the activities of some of the richest and best connected...
crooks on the face of the planet” (Strohm).
Feminine estates, ‘Metamorphoses’ by Ovid, Pluto and Proserpine, Paul the Apostle, Virgin Mary, ‘The
Wife of Bath’ by Chaucer
- Gender debate
o May and Proserpina as universal figures for women, January and Pluto for men.
- Causality: January's possessiveness and toxicity force May into an affair.
- Expectations of women: patriarchy has unreasonable and oppressive standards.
- Women as assets, objects, prosthetics; women have no autonomy
- Women as deceitful
- "May is made of masculine fantasy" - Tolliver
- “May demonstrates that feminine passivity is an act.” –Crocker
- "Proserpina subverts conventions of male authorship." - Martin
- "Chaucer works within the patriarchy but allows for the imagining of feminist readings and
reforms." - Dinshaw
- "A story intending to show the deceitfulness of women." - Stevens
- "January serves as a vehicle for the Merchant." - Tolliver
- Alludes to Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’. According to Ovid’s text, Pluto abducted Proserpine and
forced her to accompany him to the underworld, only allowing her freedom during
summertime. Her winter imprisonment resulted in the formation of the seasons, with the cold,
dark January’s a manifestation of her misery, and the warm, bright June’s her liberty = From a
mythological perspective, Proserpine can be interpreted as a cypher for the vulnerable female
whose verbal victory over Pluto is mirrored by May’s cuckoldry of January, with “May”
onomastically reflective of Proserpine’s summer liberty. January’s predatorial sexuality acts as a
bathetic parallel to Pluto’s rape. Evokes sympathy for May and villainises January.
- Medieval stereotypes of women were polarised, with women seen either as saints capable of
rejecting their sexuality—epitomised by the Virgin Mary—or as the very embodiments of
temptation—embodied by Eve.
- Throughout the Middle Ages, female roles were widely dictated by biblical texts. In his writings,
Paul the apostle emphasises men’s authority over women, with women forbidden from
teaching or voicing their opinions.
, - As the mother of Christ, the Virgin Mary represented a channel to salvation. She was often
described as the ‘second Eve’ whose chastity compensated for the lack of such from the first.
- Women were categorised into three feminine estates: virgin, wife and widow. It is interesting
to note that a woman’s status was determined not by her profession or birthright as with the
clergy or nobility, but by her sexual activity. She is defined solely in relationship to the man she
engages, was engaged to, or has never engaged with.
- The marriages of young aristocratic women were typically arranged by their families (though it
is worth noting that husbands, too, had little choice over their partners).
- Once widowed, women held legal independence and, in many instances, autonomy over
considerable financial assets.
- ‘The Merchant’s Tale’ may be interpreted as a proto-Freudian text, with May initially celebrated
for her “fresshe” virginity, then satirised for this same epithet, used later in a situationally ironic
light as a jab towards her promiscuity. Madonna-whore dichotomy. May has not changed—she
displays passivity and disinterest in January throughout the tale. It is only the audience’s
perception of her, at the manipulation of her narrator, that fluctuates. Misogynistic. May’s
corruption does not manifest from within but is instead projected onto her by the audience.
Amongst Catholics, May was known as the month of Mary.
- ‘The Canterbury Tales’ feature only three women: the Wife of Bath, the Prioress, and an
unnamed nun who accompanies her but is scarcely mentioned. The two principal female
speakers reflect the ways in which women of the time could achieve power: through trade or
the Church. The Wife of Bath represents the former, whose weaving led her to financial
independence, though ironically the majority of her wealth seems to have come from her five
marriages. The Wife is often cited as a champion for female rights whose tale radically
prioritises the agency of wives over their husbands; however, it is worth noting that, despite her
strong voice, she remains one of few female protagonists portrayed in a male-dominant, male-
invented narrative, and, like the Merchant, is depicted as a materialistic individual who uses
her partners to satiate her libido.
Estates
- Merchant as superficial (avaricious, materialistic)
- Merchant as deceitful
- Merchant as unreliable
- Merchant as misogynistic
- Merchant sarcasm
- "The male exploitation of economic power for erotic purchase." - Martin
- The Feudal System was divided into three estates: the first estate (Church and clergy), the
second estate (nobility and knights), and the third estate (peasantry). Movement between
Estates was difficult, as they were defined more by birthright than occupation.
- By the time of Chaucer, the traditional hierarchy of Feudal society had begun to break down.
Although merchants were categorised as low-borne third estate commoners, their newfound
wealth rendered their lifestyles equivalent to that of a second estate member. Unlike the clergy
and serfs, merchants did not produce goods or abide by higher orders; they resold products
solely for their personal gain. Due to their lack of contribution to essential duties, they faced
frequent discrimination and were labelled usurpers of God’s laws. Although medieval society
increasingly came to rely upon the merchant’s services in distributing and obtaining foreign
, items, they were nonetheless considered sinners, particularly by the clergy, who thundered
against their blasphemous livelihoods.
- Pre-Christian classical currents of thought depicted physical and material objects as harmful to
the soul. Monks and nuns were instructed to eat simple foods and participate in Lent (the
season of restraint) = Merchant’s "Flaundirssh bever hat” as blasphemous.
- As the Middle Ages progressed, there opened a new subdivision of the clergy: intellectuals
trained in literature who were able to progress to first estate status, despite not having been
destined for a professional career in the Church. Chaucer was among these laymen, having
learned Latin at the St Paul’s Cathedral School and Italian while accompanying his father on
travels.
- ‘The Canterbury Tales’ includes a variety of characters who vary according to estate, education,
religious rectitude, and moral strength. They can be seen as embodiments of the varied beliefs
and institutions of Chaucer’s time: a diverse society he would have experienced firsthand,
having witnessed the comings and goings of London’s visitors while living over Aldgate and
working at the customs house.
- During the Medieval period, the universe was categorised by hierarchy, with God, the Creator,
at the top, then his angelic spirits, humans, animals, plants, and stones. Together, they formed
the Great Chain of Being.
- Pavia, a city in Italy, was renowned for its brothels and usury.
The Black Death, 1381 Peasant’s Revolt
- The Black Death or the Black Pestilence was the most dangerous pandemic to have ever
occurred, with a casualty rate of 75-200 million.
- The shortage of labour that ensued allowed serfs to demand higher wages, with feudal lords
forced to accept their terms in order to attract workers. The government attempted to peg this
through poll taxes and the 1351 Statute of Labourers. The resentment this evoked amongst the
lower classes culminated in the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt.
- The Black Death also led to significant slumps in agriculture. With such a large portion of the
labour force dead, there were significant reductions in the volume of land under cultivation. This
allowed merchants to make significant profits over poorer regions that did not have sufficient
domestic produce to satisfy the demands of their residents.
'The Parliament of Fowls’ by Chaucer
- In 1380-1390, Chaucer wrote ‘The Parliament of Fowls’: a rhyme royal composed in the
tradition of French romances. In his dream-poem, Chaucer’s narrator enters a garden in which
the goddess Nature is shown presiding over a conference of birds. At the gathering, three male
"tercels” each attempt to persuade a “formel” to marry them. As they speak, the worm and
waterfowls of the lower realm grow impatient and launch into a satirical and chaotic
parliamentary debate. Their argument centres around whether courtly love, in which men
choose "mates” for their own benefit, with women afforded little agency (as demonstrated by
the “tercels”), should be upheld as a tradition. Ironically, they too treat the formel as a
spectator, whose opinions and feelings are constantly neglected. With no conclusion in sight,
Nature decides that the formel should decide for herself who to marry. The formel asks to wait
another year, which Nature allows.
- Feminist reading = Chaucer implies that women should be able to make their own choices.
- Deus ex machina = Nature resolves in formel's favour, the same way Prosperpine does to May.
