Alisoun, Dorigen, and the Conventions of Women
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date published 10/12/2007
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SummaryDomestic and social propriety are the most important concerns of wives of the era exemplified in The Canterbury Tales. Volumes of texts -- also known as deportment books -- are used to expound on domestic and social propriety and to teach young women the expectations of women in general, and in the confines of marriage. The information in these deportment books cite laws, social mores, and the Bible to procure the husband’s position as head of the household. In The Franklin’s Tale Dorigen exhibits a form of social propriety that is most congruent with the social mores of the time in which The Canterbury Tales was written. On the other hand, Alisoun, The Wife of Bath, exhibits none of these conventions, and instead uses her own financial success and personal experience to invalidate the conventions set forth by the church and men in power. Dorigen and Alisoun are archetypal extreme opposites in the spectrum of domestic and social propriety.
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