The Canterbury Tales Gender Essay Research — страница 3

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and Alison to climb from their tubs so that they can make love. Another example of John s na ve nature is shown when Alison tricks him into kissing her arse. Put up his mouth and kissed her naked arse/ Most savorously before he knew of this (103). Not only are Alison and Nicholas making an ass of John by sleeping together behind his back, they are literally turning him into one by making him kiss theirs. From this tale we see how one woman drives the men, and how one man is helplessly naively in love with her. Even more we see how a woman is fickle, sneaky, and aggressive. She is not an obedient housewife. These reversed roles are what influenced authors to come. As a product of these tales woman were given more self-reliance in literature. In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte

Bronte we see another liberated female character. Jane is an orphaned girl who is left in the care of her Aunt. Throughout her entire life Jane felt a sort of self-dependence and a desire to explore the world. She is independent and she stands up to men. By allowing his male and female characters to act outside of their normal roles, Chaucer has liberated women through literature. He almost seems to favor women and the influence that they have over men. Maribel Aguilar Eng Prof. Gilles December 8, 2000 Work Cited Page Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. London: Signet Classics, 1997. Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Trans. Nevill Coghill. New York: Penguin Books, 1951.