WE ARE GOING TO PRESENT …

The Idea of the Woman in the Middle Ages A Nun A Mother A wife In the Middle Ages a woman was given very poor consideration. She was mainly seen as a “wife”, “mother” or “prioress”.

The character is introduced in very positive terms, but she doe not represent the perfect nun. Her characterization allows the reader to make a picture representation of the medieval figure of the nun. THE PERFECT NUNTHE PRIORESS poorrich charitable towards poor people selfish simple and pure personelegant, fair-weather, egoist and eccentric person chasteMystery (In the last line there is a reference to the words “amor vincit omnia”, the reader doesn’t understand for whom such love was addressed to. Man or God ?) Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Prioress

Bonnie George Campbell The Wife from Bonnie George Campbell “And out cam his bonnie bryde, riving her hair” The image of a desperate woman for her husband’ s death  a woman without husband is not able to survive.

THE MOTHER from LORD RANDAL  She suddenly sees that there's something wrong with her son  She asks what he's going to leave her The woman = here a good MOTHER, but even if worried for her son, she is worried for what She will inherit from him, too.

MODELS Three models of medieval women  She was subdued to men  She was not independent  She had to stay at home and be mainly a mother

Why was the woman considered only as. a mother or a wife!? ? ? Our question

 People's opinion has always been very important  Society recognized ability to generate children and assure lineage survival  According to people's opinion,it was the woman’s duty to bear children and look after them  If a woman worked she had to stay away from home and she could not take care of the family  A woman who does some jobs can risk to become uninspired, so she must stay at home and preserve her skill. POSSIBLE ANSWER

SHE BECOMES USELESS WITHOUT HER GENERATIVE VALUE. It follows that if a woman loses her skill to generate children because of the work she will no longer be considered as a woman-mother or wife.

OTHER WOMEN From the texts we read, you can see that there are other models of women The woman as  A Tempter  An anti – medieval woman

THE TEMPTER From the ballads: Lord Randal La belle dame sans merci   The woman looks as the true-love  She tempts man  She poisons man She's a negative model because She weakens men's mind.

THE ANTI – MEDIEVAL WIFE from G. Chaucer “The Wife of Bath” Chaucer introduced a figure of woman that does not simply suit the idea of a medieval woman. In the wife we can also recognize some characteristics of the modern woman. So we are going to use this literary character to link the medieval with modern idea of woman and reflect on the shape of the woman as a social figure during the passing of time. COMMON ASPECTS BETWEEN THE WIFE AND THE MODERN WOMAN  They work and they are skilled  They haven’ t necessary a family  They may attend a lot of men  They may wear extravagant clothers

CREDITS  BILJANA BELKOKESKA  GIULIA BIANCHIN  ILENIA PALMIERI