Courtney’s Blog

Laskaya, Anne.  Chaucer’s Approach to Gender in the Canterbury Tales. 
Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1995.  

         Anne Laskaya’s Chaucer’s Approach to Gender in the Canterbury Tales, focuses on, as the title suggests, how gender functions in the Canterbury Tales.  Laskaya centralizes the socially constructed nature of gender in the analysis.  I found the book to be an interesting examination of the Canterbury Tales and of Chaucer, as Laskaya’s research offered some valuable insights.            The introduction to the book establishes Laskaya’s focus.  Laskaya is very much concerned with the concept that gender, and a person’s gender identity very much affects one’s understanding of the world (Laskaya 2).  Therefore, it is important to note that while Chaucer writes about the interaction between two genders, he is affected by his status as a man, who is writing mostly about men for an audience consisting of men (Laskaya 4).  Gender affects not only Canterbury Tales, but Chaucer as he writes Canterbury Tales.  With this as a basis, Laskaya goes on to explain the three goals of the book, which are to discuss the gender discourse of the Late Middle Ages, to explore how Canterbury Tales resists this discourse, and how gender is explored in Canterbury Tales (Laskaya 14).              Grounding Laskaya’s entire discussion on gender in Canterbury Tales is her research on medieval ideals regarding gender.  Ideals can reveal what behaviors and beliefs were valued, even if they were not always put into practice.  Laskaya identifies four separate ideal masculine types and one ideal feminine type.  The masculine types are the heroic or epic ideal, the Christian ideal, the courtly lover, and the intellectual.  Laskaya ascribes certain characteristics to each type, and highlights how the different masculine ideals contradict each other.  For example, the heroic ideal focuses on a man’s strength, his power, and control (Laskaya 15).  In contrast, the Christian ideal held that men should be noncompetitive, peaceful, and embrace sacrifice (Laskaya 16).  These offer mixed messages to men, as they are given conflicting advice to both rule and obey.  Laskaya explores this conflict throughout Canterbury Tales.  For example, the concept the tales revolve around is a competition, referencing a preferred masculine form of interaction (Laskaya 44).  Understanding masculine pressures reveals how Chaucer and his characters are seeking to understand the world.  The contrasting masculine ideals reminded me of discussions we have had in class about stories such as “The Knight’s Tale” and “Gawain and the Green Knight.”  We have discussed how the literary tradition dealt with the difference between the heroic tradition and the Christian tradition, and the difficulties of reconciling them.              The other aspect of gender analysis is the feminine.  Laskaya discusses the feminine ideal in the Late Middle Ages, noting that the ideal comes from “the Church and the aristocracy, both bastions of male power” (Laskaya 31).  The feminine ideal condemns a woman’s sexual nature and holds virgins as perfection (Laskaya 34).  The Virgin Mary is considered the greatest example of femininity, as she maintained her purity while being a mother.  Also, she was obedient to her fate and remains subservient to both God the Father and Christ her Son (Laskaya 41).  Therefore, women faced their own conflicting pressures, as their worth as virgins and as mothers create contrasting values.  In discussing the feminine ideal and women in literature, Laskaya is quick to note that most literature available, such as Chaucer’s works, may be about women, but reflects masculine concerns about what women are thinking (Laskaya 42).  As we read women in literature, is important to remember they are filtered through masculine perceptions.            I found Laskaya’s focus a different way of considering gender. 
Reading gender in literature often focuses on the text, and then on the historical situation, but Laskaya includes an examination of how the author’s gender and situation relate to the text.  Canterbury Tales is a fascinating work in that it is open about its constructed nature, because it is about the act of telling stories, so Chaucer has created different narrators the reader is aware of.  In my readings about the tales, I have noted that critics usually refer to the narrator’s motives in the story, which acknowledges how perceptions affect stories.  Laskaya connects each narrator’s motives with a gendered perspective, and how this relates to the different ideals that governed their behavior, such as the desire to compete among men.  One of the most interesting aspects of Laskaya’s analysis is the focus on the masculine.  In my past exposures with gender criticism, there is usually more weight placed on examining women in literature.  However, Laskaya places the analysis of the masculine as central to the book.  Studying the masculine discourse relates to several of the chapters, and when she goes to examine the feminine, it is always done with an awareness of the male author.  Laskaya acknowledges that men are dominant in the world of Chaucer and often resists more feminist readings of Chaucer throughout her book.  She points out that such readings grant Chaucer a greater gender awareness than he might have earned.              Chaucer’s Approach to Gender in the Canterbury Tales uses historical research and interpretation in order to illuminate a very important aspect of society and how it is used by Chaucer.  Laskaya’s argument was clear and well reasoned.  The book is useful in Chaucer and gender studies.