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II INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE OF YOUNG RESEARCHERS 

353 

 Qafqaz University                         

          18-19 April 2014, Baku, Azerbaijan 

Geoffrey Chaucer is remembered as the author of many works such as “The House of Fame”, “The Legend of Good 

Women”, “Troilus and Criseyde”, “Book of the Duchess”, and “The Canterbury Tales” which is regarded as the 

masterpiece of Chaucer’s literary creation. This is the collection of stories recited by pilgrims who are on their way to St. 

Thomas Becket’s tomb in Canterbury. The tales reflect characters from every stage of feudal society and expose the 

contradictions of characters’ social roles. G. Chaucer gives an ironic and critical portrait of English society in the Middle 

Ages with the help of tales narrated by pilgrims. 

The work consists of twenty four tales and starts with General Prologue with a description of spring which creates the 

frame for the tales and introduces the characters – pilgrims who are the representatives of Medieval English society. Among 

thirty pilgrims there are only a few female characters with whom the reader can get a vivid description of Medieval English 

women and their responsibilities in society. The tales told by female narrators in “Canterbury Tales” are the demonstration 

of individual dreams and hopes of women who are not satisfied with the tradition which defines their position in society and 

the strong desire of changing this position is also reflected in these tales. 

There are only three female pilgrims among Chaucer’s characters who are named as the Wife of Bath, the Prioress and 

the Second Nun. The Wife of Bath has a lot of experience in life. She has travelled all over the world on pilgrimages and 

has been married five times. She is rich and tasteful. Her clothes, scarlet stockings, soft, fresh, brand new leather on her 

shoes, all indicate how wealthy she has become. In her image the reader can see the woman who is seeking freedom, trying 

to gain power and struggle for autonomy. In her prologue, she discusses two themes. The first is about her five marriages 

and her tactics for gaining power and financial independence through the use of her body. The second theme is her 

dissatisfaction with current religious thought. Alison is a Christian and is undergoing a pilgrimage, but she doesn’t blindly 

trust and accept the religious authorities’ interpretation of the Bible. She goes against it and defends her rights as a woman. 

She also protests against patriarchal society. Her main reason to criticize it is her experience in life; as a wife, as a 

professional cloth maker, her dealings with the bourgeoisie associated with trading, her traveling, and her experiences with 

different social classes.   

Another female pilgrim is the Prioress. Madam Eglantine is an ambiguous character from the very beginning. She has 

two sights. In the General Prologue she is described as a courtly, genteel, aristocratic nun, but there is a contradiction 

between her appearance, manners and the story she told. Her story of the martyred child resembles popular saints' stories of 

the day. Her harsh judgment of the Jews is the reflection of common medieval Catholic beliefs. The violent nature of the 

events in the story seem to be in contradiction to a personality as sensitive as the Prioress's is supposed to be, suggesting 

that she may be much tougher than she wishes to reveal. In her image, Chaucer criticizes the church and its requirements of 

that period. 

The last female character is the Second Nun. The Second Nun is not described in General Prologue. She seems an 

anonymous character with no voice of her own. She doesn’t speak to other pilgrims, only tells her story when asked. In her 

tale, she only presents a saint’s life, a standard story, not different from what is expected of her as a nun. She is considered 

to be the image of nun who fulfills the requirements of her religion, and the theme of her story shows similarities with her 

character and thoughts. She chooses her heroine out of admiration, the heroine who believes that only God has authority 

over her, suggesting that Nun also believes the same.