"In Goddard's view, the Legend was to read as a satire upon women, a misogynist satire that said, in effect, "You want a good woman- here, I'll give you good women." (Chaucer's Heroidies 165)
From the onset we are shown a series of women that descend from the powerful Cleopatra, to the easily manipulated Hypermenstra. Dido, who presides over a land "where maidens walk with arrow and bow in this manner" (991), becomes mad for Aneaus and bemoans that her pride and achievement have been sullied by this rogue. "O unfortunate woman, innocent full of pity, faith and tenderness, why did you so trust men?" (1254) The first stories present the women as failed and given to emotion and folly no matter their worldly status, but the repetition of the stories and the redundancy that is employed is easily read as Chaucer's sly smirk as he praises women while laughing at them.
Stepping away from this particular story I couldn't help but be reminded of the numerous, almost countless, female protagonists that meet the same end as all the women in Chaucer's tale. (i,e Edna Pontelier, Ophelia, Anna Karrenina) What I find particularly interesting is that those women are seen in full figure and examination, and in the end meet their fate for a variety of reasons, chief among them a lack of freedom and choice, but they are examined. Chaucer merely presents them as unwitting victims who fall prey to the cunning snares of men. Chaucer's completion of the task put forth by Alceste is misogyny under the guise of a wink and a smile.
No comments:
Post a Comment