We are seeing and hearing about the women from the Middle East. They are to be covered from head to toe so that the men in their society will not be tempted. The Taliban has not allowed the women to work or be educated after 8 years of age. These types of actions are hard to digest but have been going on for thousands of years.

In Greek literature, men played the parts of women in their plays. This was an accepted practice. Unfortunately, most of the evidence of the treatment of women came from men. There are some poets who thought men would be better off without the curse of women. These men were called misogynists. One particular poet, Hesiod, considered women to be a curse that came from the first woman, Pandora. She was a gift to man from an angry Zeus. Pandora was never really born but had been crafted. Pandora was, therefore, considered unnatural.

In Athens, women were thought of as modern day “housewives”, their place in the home. They would take care of the children, cook, spin weave and manage the servants. The servants would do any chores that required

Women in Anglo-Saxon times were treated different, better, I am not sure. Some could look at Beowulf and view the women as pawns. They were held in very little regard or value in their society. Good women were peaceful and unassertive, greeting guests and serving drinks to them. The author of Beowulf shows Grendel’s mother as a strong and combative monster. The queen of the Danes, Wealhtheow, does assert herself in the interest of her husband and children, which reveals the masculine fear of feminine power. The author also reminds the readers that she is a member of the weaker sex and places her to her proper position behind the king. Wealhtheow cleverly uses her intelligence and ability to control men to protect her children and their place on the throne from Hrothulf, their cousin, in case of an untimely death of the king.

The Wife of Bath’s Tale begins with an unusual tale of her past. She recounts her 5 marriages and how she used the men for their wealth. Even though she did not marry for love, one of her husband’s cheated on her and she made him feel immense guilt and tortured him, not physically, but mentally until his death. She finally married a man for love and not his wealth. This husband hit her and she also made him feel guilty for his actions. She realized that she needed to be the boss, in charge of the relationship. The Tale she tells is one of a punishment of some sort. The queen begs her husband to let her deliver charges to the rapist by giving him a question that she did not think he would find the answer to. He does return with the answer and the old woman who helped him wants something in return. The summary of this story is you cannot judge someone by what they look like, you only know the true person once you have accepted them for what they are. T!

Chaucer’s works can be looked at as linking gender with romance. Chaucer shows that male and female are not two opposites, but overlapping and shifting together. In the time Chaucer was writing these stories, a questionable social standing for a woman could taint her.

hen they become beautiful, inside and out.

them to leave the house such as getting water and going to the market. Women were thought to be a liability, at least among the middle c

Some topics in this essay:
Anglo Saxon, Bath’s Tale, Zeus Pandora, Canterbury Tales, Middle East, Danes Wealhtheow, Wife Bath, Greece Greeks, Clerk’s Tale, Women Anglo-Saxon, subjection women, tale tells, grendel’s mother, king oedipus, author speaks, gone women,