Rape and Justice in the Middle Ages

            This is my second course in which I have had to read The Canterbury Tales and both times I have gravitated greatly towards the Wife of Bath’s Tale. I feel as though it is the perfect example of the plight of women in a patriarchal society. In the tale, the Wife of Bath recounts the story of a highly esteemed knight who rapes a young maiden. The knight was due to be killed for his crime, however the Queen found it more fitting to teach him a lesson. She ordered the knight to find the correct answer to the question, ‘”What do women desire most?”. To find the answer, the knight set of on a quest. Along his journey, he met an elderly haggard-looking woman who claimed to know the correct answer, but she would only give it to him if he agreed to fulfill her wish afterwards. Together they traveled back to the Queen and revealed the answer- women desire sovereignty over their partners. With the elderly woman’s answer being correct, she finally spoke of her secret wish- to marry the knight. The knight begrudgingly agrees to marry her, but this is when we see a twist. The old woman transforms into a younger and more beautiful version of herself as a reward for the new outlook her husband has on women. A reward (yes, you read that correctly) for a rapist, nonetheless a reward of a young and attractive wife which is eerily similar to the description used for his victim. While the conclusion is simply abhorrent, it certainly mimics the rhetoric of the time. The Middle Ages were not shy in their complete and utter disregard of rape. That is why in my paper I will be focusing on the idea of rape and justice in medieval times.

            To delve into the topic of sexual violence, I must first address the society which upheld such a terrible crime for so long. Patriarchal societies have been a thing since the beginning of time and that surely does not exclude the Middle Ages. As we may all have learned in history classes, men were viewed as the breadwinners while women were the homemakers. This meant that women often took the backseat in society, leaving it to the men to assume leadership roles. In fact, as per Tison Pugh's article, the idea of “masculine speech” and “feminine silence” were highly revered in this time period. This was essentially a universally understood rule of society which was even echoed in religious writings. In Lucia Akard’s article, “A Medieval #MeToo”, we see how far the idea of feminine silence was taken in the Middle Ages. This article, scarily enough, is able to bridge the gap between medieval and modern rape culture which helps the reader get a sense of the systematic oppression of women that has been happening over centuries. Medieval women did speak out on the sexual violence they experienced, yet their attackers often silenced them in more ways than one. Firstly, unjust laws were created to ensure that women rarely found justice. For example, in Medieval France a law was recorded that women who did not fight hard enough to resist a rape were basically out of luck in persecuting their attacker. Another way was the use of social class as shown in Karras’ article. Aristocratic men of the Middle Ages used their wealth and social standing as a way to manipulate women and their pursuit of justice. Since these men were so rich, they knew if they were to commit a crime of sexual violence against poor women, it would most likely not be reported because of the wealth disparity. 

            In fact, in Classen’s article we actually get to see how scarcely reported rapes were in Medieval France, Over the course of 85 years, there was only 12 reported cases of sexual violence. As we know, this number is simply outrageous. It is very low despite the fact that rapes were very common. This is a clear sign of women being silenced and beaten into submission. Another example of men using their power against women is introduced in Godspeed’s article. She zeros in on the fact that the assailant in the tale was a knight. A knight’s duty is to protect its people, yet this knight did the complete opposite. He used his position of power to strip a woman of her rights. Rape and justice (or lack thereof) is a prevalent theme in medieval literature and one that demands more conversation in order to shed light on the issue. 

Rape Culture in the Middle Ages

While reading Canterbury Tales, a lot of questions came to mind. It is an interesting and different approach to literature. I was drawn in on one of Chaucer's tales, which was the "Wife of Bath's Tale." This tale sparked my attention being a female and because of the tale's overall main idea focusing on rape culture in the Middle Ages. The tale is about a knight raping a young woman (who the audience never hears from), receiving a small punishment for his crime, and then being rewarded for his behavior with a new, beautiful wife. His punishment is to answer a question the queen asks. While trying to find the answer, he runs into a old woman who transforms into a beautiful version of herself to teach him a lesson, but also rewarding him. Before reading the Canterbury Tales, I had little to no knowledge regarding rape in the Middle Ages. But, clearly there was something that I needed to know because I was shocked by the way the rape was ignored and the knight was actually rewarded. This was all very new to me, but as I read more into the tale it became more and more apparent that rape was a normalized act rather than a crime during the Middle Ages. From that moment on, I knew that I wanted to focus my research on rape and equality for women in the Middle Ages.

The young, beautiful wife.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-wife-of-baths-tale-in-the-canterbury-tales-theme-analysis.html

Within my research, I focused on the way Chaucer normalizes rape. He does this by focusing the tale on the knight rather than the maiden who was raped. It became evident that this was occurring more often than it should have in the Middle Ages. Women were left to deal with the repercussions of rape by themselves, while the men lived their normal lives. Emma Lipton discusses in her article that the maiden is a representation of all women in the Middle Ages, dealing with rape on a day-to-day basis. This time period was known to be dark and I believe this is the reason behind that stereotype. Instead of women having a normal life, they feared walking in the streets alone. Lucia Akard's essay, "A Medieval #MeToo," describes the real life of women in the Middle Ages. She focuses on the effects rape had on women, the struggles of being heard, and how women were constantly discriminated against. The maiden in the "Wife of Bath's Tale" does not have any lines in the tale as she is seen as 'voiceless' by the audience. The fact that the maiden does not speak, makes it obvious that women were alone and scared. The tale can also be viewed as a cry for help from women in the Middle Ages. 

This tale is important and relevant to today's world because rape is still an ongoing issue that people are facing. The only difference is women are being heard today regarding rape whereas in the Middle Ages, they were not. Thomas Van, in his article "False Texts and Disappearing Women in the 'Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale,'" writes that the rape was a major issue in the text but was left to be very vague and not important at all. This is a problem in itself because a hatred act like rape should not be ignored, but it was. Women struggled to be heard and the maiden is the representation of those women struggling to be seen, heard, and have justice. Akard also expands on this idea of women in today's society still finding a way to be heard by stating, "The #MeToo movement was started in 2007 by feminist Tarana Burke as a way to show solidarity with black women and girls who had experienced sexual assault."  This topic is something that I became very interested in due to it being an ongoing issue people are experiencing to this day. After doing my research, it showed the differences in the Middle Ages and today's world. The biggest difference was women were not heard back then because men were the superior race whereas today, women from all over have joined forces to put an end to rape and to have justice. 

Homophobic Behavior in the Middle Ages

         During this summer course, we studied the diverse population during the Middle Ages. One group of people that stood out to me was the homosexuals. This group of people was often hidden from Middle Age texts, but in Geoffrey Chaucer’s text, The Canterbury Tales, he incorporates aspects of homosexual characters in some of his tales. 

http://www.luminarium.org
/medlit/pardonport.htm

         In my course project, I chose to closely analyze The Pardoner’s Tale and how the Pardoner showed many signs of homosexuality. By looking closely into the way Chaucer had described the Pardoner and noticing some of his actions, readers are able to make the connection to the Pardoner’s homosexuality. 

         In the Prologue to the Pardoner’s Tale, the Pardoner actually makes the Host kiss him, “And ye, sire Hoost, that been to me so deere, I prey yow that ye kisse the Pardoner” (Chaucer, 277). The Pardoner asks another man, the Host, to kiss him because he was upset that the Host was making fun of him. Instead of refusing to kiss him, the Host agrees and follows through.

         Not only do we see physical actions between the Pardoner and other men, but we also are given descriptions of him that show his feminine side. Monica McAlpine looks further into the specific word choice Chaucer used in describing the Pardoner, “The description of the Pardoner’s hair — its length and fineness suggesting effeminacy, eunuchry, and hermaphroditism and his grooming of its suggesting effeminacy; the Pardoner’s concern with fashion, implying effeminacy: the references to goats and hairs, suggesting hermaphroditism; the high voice, connoting effeminacy and eunuchry” (McAlpine, 13). McAlpine finds several reasons why one may consider the Pardoner to be a homosexual. She looks at his hair, his voice, his love for fashion, and beardlessness to draw a conclusion about his sexuality. One aspect that was very interesting was that the Pardoner did not have a beard. During the Middle Ages, a beard showed one’s masculinity. So, by the Pardoner not having a beard, he was expressing his feminine side. 

https://uncrcow.tumblr.com
/post/179114171134/
how-was-homosexuality-
treated-in-medieval-times

         Studying Middle Aged text can be very difficult for our modern society to understand. McAlpine also discusses another very important aspect which is that our interpretation of Middle-Aged texts may be very different. This is very important to think about because when we read Chaucer’s text and hear things like how the Pardoner does not have a beard, it might not strike us that he was showing signs of feminism. But, if we were from the Middle Ages, it would be clearer to us that he was more feminine. 

         In an article written by Richard Zeikowitz that engages in the homosexual aspects of the Pardoner’s Tale. One point that he states is the importance of incorporating historical texts that include homosexuality, “Queering in the Middle Ages works hand in hand with queering the present- a process that may pave the way for a society that genuinely engages difference” (Zeikowitz, 79). Zeikowitz points out how many teachers only show their students heterosexual texts. Introducing homosexuality into historical texts can lead to understanding and reacting positively towards homosexuals. Zeikowitz includes an assignment that teachers can do with their students while reading The Pardoner’s Tale which is to have students think about how the Pardoner would fit into today’s society and which of his characteristics would be against the norm. Linking homosexual historical texts to our culture today can give students a better understanding and development of homosexuality. 

            Overall, this theme of homosexuality in The Canterbury Tales allows readers to see that there were homosexuals during this time period. Many of them were hidden from the historical texts that we see today, but they were present, especially in Chaucer’s text. It is important to pick up on the words and actions Chaucer had included in his text to really understand the Pardoner’s sexuality. Engaging in historical works that include homosexuality is important to further our views on people who are not with the norm.