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Power Of Women In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

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“This act of violence made such a stir, so much petitioning to the king for her,..” (65-66). Now and then, women possess more power than men and men possess more power than women. However, in time their power gradually comes to a draw. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Chaucer comments suggest that based on your gender, it determines on how much power you will receive. Chaucer implies that men should be on equal ground with women by showing the Knight when he had more power than women, when the King had no control over the Knight’s punishment, and when the Knight acknowledges that he should honor women/old women.
In the beginning of “The Wife of Bath's Tale”, the Knight was portrayed to have a lot of power, however it occurred only towards women. The Knight saw a maiden one day, “And of that …show more content…

The Knight ran into an old woman who told him the answer to the question and they rode to see the Queen. The Knight told the Queen that, “A women wants the self-same sovereignty over her husband as over her lover, and master him; he must not be above her.” (214-216). It is explaining in this quote that the men must not be more powerful than their women, that women are in control of their men. This relates to how the Queen showed she had more power and control when she said the Knight could live, which meant the King had no control over the punishment. However, if the King and Queen had equal power, perhaps the Knights punishment would have been different and they would respect each other.
Later on in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, the Knight was punished and his punishment was to marry the old women, he refused and was being disrespectful to her, he was saying she was old and ugly and he would not marry her. He eventually agreed because his life depended on

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