The Power and the Weakness of Women in Anglo-Norman Romance

Weiss, Judith. “The Power and the Weakness of Women in Anglo-Norman Romance,” Women and Literature in Britain 1150-1500 ed. Carol M. Meale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 7-23.

I originally read this article for my first paper for the class and then forgot about it. But I thought it provided a really interesting way of looking at the role of women in the romance literature of the Medieval period, and I found that it had a lot of ties to The Canterbury Tales as well, given that a majority of the tales that we read had women in them who were portrayed in the ways that the article talks about. Alisoun, in "The Miller's Tale," for example, can be seen as being innovative and resourceful when it comes to her plans to spend the night with Nicholas. Like this article points out, the men who have to rely on female innovativeness and resourcefulness are often less educated than the female, which seems to be the case with Nicholas. This article also talks about how widows were portrayed in a different way than other women, since they had more power in their own choices and were not portrayed as passively as other women are. This certainly can be seen with the Wyf of Bath, who, being five times a wife and four times a widow, seems much more independent than many of the newly married or unmarried women in the tales. Her independence also stands out with the fact that, besides the Prioress and the second nun, she is the only woman on the pilgrimage. This article won't be a lot of help with my second paper, but I thought it might be useful if you are doing a paper that has something to do with the roles of women or the sexuality of women and how either of those are portrayed.

Here are the main points:

-Purpose of the essay is to examine the ambivalent and inconsistent images of women provided by Anglo-Norman romances of the 12^th and early 13^th centuries and to consider how they relate to historical circumstances.

-Noblewomen have the least amount of power, especially when compared to their French and Anglo-Saxon counterparts – while French and Anglo-Saxon women had some rights when it came to ending marriages, Anglo-Norman noblewomen were considered the property of their husbands and had almost no ability to dissolve their marriages. Because of this, and because of woman’s dangerous sexuality, romances often picture women as weak, subdued and imperfect.

-Women are described as being “pawns in the games of others, denied choice and forced into situations into dependence and passivity” (11).

-There is a high premium on the virginity of women.

-The more independent, less passive position of widows is also seen in medieval romance writing

-While women are portrayed as passive, they are also portrayed as innovated and resourceful

-Men in romances are generally portrayed as less learned than the women when the women are being portrayed as resourceful