Throughout Geoffrey Chaucer‘s The Canterbury Tales, the relation between youth and old age is one of divergence; there is always a clear contrast between them, both externally and internally. However, their oppositions are not wholly consistenti whilst in some tales the young people humiliate the elderly, in others the old characters possess higher wisdom, which elevates them above their youthful counterparts. Such contradictions even exist within a few individual tales, including the Wife ofBoth‘s Prologue and Tole, the Miller’s Tale, and the Pardoner‘s Tale, There is folly in old age as much as there is wisdom, just as there is both craftjness and imprudence in youth. The elderly can be elevated yet also degraded, whilst the young are as equally glorified as they are frowned upon. One key tension between youth and old age in The Canterbury Tales is of the young people’s humiliation of their elders, which in both The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Miller‘s Tale, is of a sexual nature.
The former is a fabliau whilst the latter draws upon elements of the genre, central to which are “repeated acts of deception and misdeed [for example] adultery (xi) according to Mary Jane Stearns Schenckt Whilst in the Miller‘s Tale this becomes a rather public matter, in the Wife of Bath the humiliation does not seem to be so immediately public — although the Wife’s recount of cuckolding her first three husbands to a group of thirty pilgrims arguably shames them enough, even in death, This discrepancy can be explained by the genre, the former encompassing all aspects of fabliaux, a tale being told for the sake of entertainment, whereas the latter is autobiographical, and she means to maintain the focus on herself, rather than on her husbands. It is established at the beginning of Miller‘s Tole that there is a significant age gap between John the carpenter and his wife, Alisoun; she is introduced as only.
“Of eighteen yeer” and he has “wedded [her] new”, the post-modifying adjective of which implies that she is not his first wife, that she is simply the most recent — thus, the reader must deduce that he is older. His age is soon solidified, as it is asserted that “he was old”, which is juxtaposed with the reiteration of her being “yong”. This immediate polarisation makes the carpenter’s doom implicit — to modern readers and Chaucer’s contemporary audiences alike, an elderly man who marries a young woman is a fool, he has fated himself to be deceived and disgraced — as is the tradition of sexual humiliation of old men, at the hands of young women. This binary opposition between youth and old age is linked to the gender divisions of medieval English society, as misogyny is inherent in the tradition of the cuckolded husband.
The figure of the young woman is presented to be promiscuous, sexually insatiable, and therefore unfaithful 7 a sexist stereotype which is certainly extant in the presentation of Alisoun, the carpenter‘s wife, John is so “Jalous” that he “heeld hire narwe in cage”, a startling metaphor which reflects the patriarchal order of marriage in the Middle Ages, as defined by the teachings of the Church, which declared that “the wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband” (New International Version Bible, Corinthianstlt7). She is denied any freedom, as her promiscuity is presumed, before she has given her husband any reason to believe that she would be disloyal. The adjective pair “wylde and yang” equates her youth with a lack of restraint, which the former adjective connotes 7 the zoomorphic imagery of which links to his metaphorical caging of the hen.
The implications are that as a young woman, she is intrinsically licentious, and if any other man were to take interest in her, she would not hold back 7 this distrust is both of female sexuality and of the recklessness of youth, Similarly in the Wife ofButh’s Prologue, the Wife‘s elderly husbands are suspicious of her 7 she is a young woman, therefore she is constantly on the prowl and her chastity is always at stake, as implied by the zoomorphic simile “Thou seydest this, that I was lyk a cat slyk and gay” that “goon a-caterwauled”. The Wife does indeed commit adultery, thus cuckolding her husbands, Not only this, but she convinces them that she is innocent, claiming that “al my walkynge out by nyghte / Was for t‘espye wenches that he dighte”. This is particularly clever, as it reverses the traditional power dynamics of marriage in the Middle Ages, placing the guilt on them and putting her in the more dominant position in their relationship, In addition to this, she debases them, as she tricks them into surrendering money and property to her, through powerful rhetoric 7 a further appropriation of male spheres, as women were denied access to education, thus intelligent, influential language was a man’s craft.
The double interrogative of “why hydestow, with sorwe, /The keyes of thy cheste awey fro me? It is my good as well as thyn, pardee! What, wenestow make an edit of oure dame?”separated by the exclamatory, poses a direct challenge to their household power dynamics, as she questions his actions, and insinuates that by denying her control over their property, he is doing her a terrible wrong She is so relentless in her cunning that her husbands each granted her “hir long and hir tresoor” 7 particularly humiliating for the old husbands, as they are emasculated, publically shamed by their submission to their wife‘s will and surrendering of their property. The more private, but equal humiliation is in her strong objection towards her old husbands sexually.
Despite her liberal attitude towards sex, the Wife feels forced to have “a feyned appetit” when in bed with her old husbands, indicating their incompetency to Chaucer’s audience 7 if a woman generally indiscriminate in sexual matters is uninterested, they can only be unsatisfactory, Furthermore, she tells the pilgrims — somewhat conspiratorially — that “in bacon hadde I nevere delit”, the intensifier ‘nevere’ stressing how insufficient they all were, and the metaphor likening them to ‘bacon’ creating a grotesque image which only puts them in a negative light, Whether or not they are ever aware of their insufficiency is of little importance 7 the humiliation is in the truth of the matter, and of her telling other people of such intimate details, minutiae which are intrinsically linked to their age.
In the Miller’s Tole, the old husband is also sexually humiliated by his young wife — similarly to the Wife of Bath’s husbands, he suspects Alisoun initially, yet is still unaware of the actual situation, and is cuckolded 7 as well as degraded in other ways Throughout the short tale, he is a character to be laughed at; his obliviousness to his wife and tenant’s relationship is very comical, as the reader is so highly aware of it. That the couple “goon to bedde, /Ther as the carpenter is wont to lye” is especially humiliating for John, as the physical replacement of him with Nicholas in the marriage bed parallels his overall displacement, and highlights how oblivious he is. Young Nicholas and Alisoun further disgrace the carpenter by manipulating his distress over their relationship 7 they publically humiliate him, putting him on display for neighbours “to gauren on” and presenting him as madt It was incredibly degrading to be seen as having lost control of one’s mind, as lacking rational thought — a view which the neighbors understandably took, due to his belief in Nicholas’s elaborate story which facilitated the cuckolding plan.
His “vanytee is emphasised at the tale‘s end, the negative connotations of which hinder a sympathetic reading of him — Chaucer‘s audiences are not lead to perceive John as a victim, but are expected to “laughen [m] kiken and [in] cape” just as the neighbours do. Therefore, the old man is made a fool of in various ways by the young lovers in the Miller’s Tale, just as the old husbands of the Wife ofBath are. However, there is not always solely foolishness in the elderly characters, and they are not exclusively humiliated by the young In some instances, as in the Wife ofBath’s Tale and the Pardoner’s Tale, the older characters are elevated above their youthful counterparts, possessing wisdom and humility — which the young people lack 1n the Wife of Bath‘s Tale, the “olde wyf” possesses higher morals than the young knight — a pompous, classist man, who is disdainful of his wife for being “of so laugh a kynde”.
He also cruelly describes her as “so loothly, and so cold also” — the syntactic patterning created by the repeated intensifier ‘so’ demonstrates his immense loathing for her; however, she is wise, patient and reasoned, so does not take offence. Instead, she strives to teach him greater values than those he possesses — she challenges his concept of “gentillesse” as arising from “old richesse” and “heritage”, utilising the word‘s other connotations with virtue and morality. 1n stressing the importance of “gentil dedes, she denies the possibility of being “boren of a gentil hous” 7 which is how the knight views it 7 as she asserts that nobility is proved and earned throughout life, rather than it being inherent, Furthermore, she skilfully uses biblical exegesis, claiming that as God “In wilful poverte chees to lyve his lyf” (111.1179), it is clear that honourability cannot stem from property nor social rank, as in the religious society of medieval England, Christ was the paragon of virtue and dignity.
In fact, she even asserts that “vicious lyvyng” can facilitate higher virtue, as poverty, if one “taketh it in pacience” can improve “sapience” , as it requires faith in God’s plan, humility, and thriftiness which the wasteful and entitled upper-classes lack, She even alludes to the Italian poet Dante, demonstrating an incredible literary knowledge for a woman 7 who was not supposed to be educated — in the discussion of ‘gentillesse’, Dante wrote that God was the only being with the power to endow a man with grace, undoubtedly the central source for this section of Chaucer’s text. In bestowing this understanding upon an old woman, he elevates her above the young man, who is himself an example of how supposed noble birth means little in relation [0 nobility of the soul. Thus, the relations between youth and old age in the Wife ofButh s.
Tale contradict those of the Prologue. Correspondingly in the Pardoner’s Tale, the old man is compassionate, rational, and wise, whereas the “yonge folk” are self-indulgent rascals, as indicated by the listing at the tale’s opening of their “folye” and “riot” — they enjoy “hazard, stywes, andtaverns”, all of which encompass one of the seven deadly sins. Their corruption is emphasised by the Pardoner’s temporary shift into a Sermon, preaching against the vices that these men possess, describing drinking and gambling as “lecherye” Whereas these young men are depicted as lowly characters, the “oold man” is spectacularly moral, a didactic figure present to teach the youth 7 and in turn Chaucer’s audiences 7 great truths, good conduct and religious valuest There are qualities of a sermon in his speech, as influenced by the Pardoner’s telling of the Tale, as he tells them “it is no curteisye.
To speken to an old man vileynye”. His language is dignified and elevated, a further contrast with the young men, who cruelly exclaim ”sory grace!” t0 the elderly man, and tauntingly question “Why artow al forwrapped save thy face? /Why lyvestow so longe in so greet age?” 7 they are unsympathetic, and brutish in their speech. To further impress upon the young men the importance of respect, he uses biblical exegesis, quoting “Hooly Writ” in warning “Ne dooth unto an oold man noon harm now, Namoore than that ye wolde men did to yow — this is meant to cause them to think about their behaviour, and foreshadows their demise; for their unashamed sinning, they will be punished Whereas in the Wife of Bath’s Tale, the old hag was able to teach the young knight better values, the old man is unable to change the rowdy young men; however, he makes a fool of them in the eyes of the audience, as he gives them warnings which, to their own detriment, they ignore.
His knowledge of Death arises from his age, as it is this which grants him experience — unlike the men and their naive, youthful over—confidence, he has been humbled by life and is wiser for it. Therefore, in the Pardoner‘s Tale, as in the Wife of Bath‘s Tale, old age equates to experience, which forms a higher morality than youth’s ignorance of consequence allows for. The Canterbury Tales vary in their presentation of the relation between youth and old age; each can be seen as both a hindrance and a privilege. This contradiction is facilitated by multiple factors; sometimes it is the gender of the characters, as in the Wife ofBaths Prologue and Tale; sometimes it is the genre and tone of the tale, as is so in the Pardoner’s Tale. However, not all can be explained away 7 Chaucer’s position on age remains unclear. He certainly appears to critique the ageist perceptions of elderly people at points, but simultaneously adheres to stereotypes and perpetuates the medieval normative of using old men as plot devices, as something to he laughed at. What is clear is the divide between youth and old age — though it can take many forms, it is always apparent.
