Gender Roles in "The Knight's Tale"

After reading “The Knight’s Tale” through a gender lens, I have a few insights to offer about gender roles in the story.

1. Women are treated as objects. In the beginning of the story, the Duke of Theseus takes Queen Hippolyta, his future wife, and her younger sister Emily after the Duke is victorious over the Amazon. The two women are simply spoils of war for the Duke and the Amazon people. Thus, Hippolyta and Emily are two women that represent the traditional view that women are objects.
2. The Duke of Theseus also represents traditional gender roles as he is a strong male leader. He epitomizes the qualities of men that were admired in traditional times as the Duke is an effective soldier and savior. After the Duke encounters the “company of ladies” that are “all clothed in black,” he acts to save the ladies from their misery by attacking King Creon. It seems that the women needed a man to save them.
3. The women who lost their husbands in war also represent traditional gender roles. The eldest woman says, “For sure there is not one among us all that was not once a duchess or a queen, Though wretches now, as may truly be seen…” The ladies were once powerful and rich but have lost almost everything because they lost their husbands. Chaucer shows that women in those times have great dependence on the men, and many women become lost without their husbands.
4. Victorious knights are always men, as Arcita and Palamon are. Knights are always men because of their inherent and natural strength. Thus, women were generally regarded as the weaker sex. The only purpose that women serve in “The Knight’s Tale” is through love and beauty. The main conflict of the story occurs after Arcita and Palamon both fall in love with Emily because of her beauty. The knight’s only care about Emily’s beauty and don’t bother with discovering her wit, personality, or charm.
5. Each of the gods also represents the traditional gender roles. Venus, the goddess of Love, is female. Mars, the god of War, is male. Diana, the goddess of chastity, is female. Females are associated with love and chastity, while men are associated with war and brutality.
6. If we consider the relationships between women and men, then women seem to be simply objects of love for the men as all the women are flat characters. For Theseus, Hippolyta and Emily were simply objects for him to win. However, Theseus does respect their views and opinions at one point in the story. After Theseus is about to kill both Palamon and Arcita for disrespecting his wishes, the women plead to Theseus not to kill them as they get “Down on their knees they then began to fall, Read to kiss his feet as there he stood.” However, this passage also shows that women are generally more emotional. In addition, the women are subordinate to Theseus as they get down on their knees. ‘
7. The men are protectors of the women. Theseus protects the group of miserable ladies, and Arcita and Palamon fight to protect Emily. There is no meaningful relationship between the two knights and Emily. All of them are simply bound be sexual desires and lusts. In this case, Emily represents a sexual desire for the two knights as many women did in those times. In addition, Emily is said to have “womanly compassion” which shows that compassion is generally associated with women.
8. There are some characters and events that represent non-traditional gender roles. At the end of the story after Arcita dies, Theseus “wept upon [Arcite],” and Palamon had garments “stained with many a tear.” Thus, the men are represented as emotional characters especially in times of death. However, Emily, the woman, is the “most sorrowful of the company” even though she barely knew Arcite. It may be because women have some sort of unspoken duty to their husbands.
9. Venus, although she is the God of love, is actually the strongest of the three Gods in the story as the narrator says, “That men might see that neither wit nor wealth, Beauty or cunning, bravery or health Can challenge Venus or advance their worth.” The Goddess is actually portrayed as the strongest, which goes against the notion that males are generally stronger than females.
10. It is difficult to pinpoint Chaucer’s attitude towards these characters. I think that he places love above strength because Palamon eventually wins Emily over Arcite. While Palamon appeals to the Goddess of love, Arcite appeals to the God of War, and love is ultimately victorious in the end. From the beginning of the story, the author generates more sympathy towards Palamon. Palamon sees Emily first, but Arcite still tries to take Emily for Palamon. In addition, Palamon must spend an extra seven years in prison, while Arcite had the opportunity to fight against Theseus.
11. Chaucer also shows that women cannot always be won as objects of war. Although the winner of the war is supposed to win over Emily, Arcite doesn’t actually win Emily. Instead, the one that truly loves Emily wins her. This could be a possible message that love conquers strength and women ultimately conquer men.
12. Despite some non-traditional gender roles, Chaucer still portrays the women as emotional and weak. They cry over their husbands and cry the most at death. In addition, men are the stronger ones as they are knights and the ones that are engaged in death and brutality. Chaucer presents most of the human characters within the rigid gender roles of the time. When he presents the female that has a non-traditional gender role, Venus, she is non-human. Perhaps, Chaucer suggests that human gender roles are hard to break while non-human gender roles are easier to break.
13. There is acceptance of the emotional men within the society so the other characters don’t have contempt for men that stray from their traditional gender roles. Since none of the human women seem to stray from their gender role, it is hard to deduce other characters’ attitudes towards non-traditional roles held by females.