THE WOMAN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES

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THE WOMAN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES
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• The cosideration of woman
• Marriage
• Different kinds of woman
• The medieval woman in Chaucers Prologue

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Preamble the Middle Ages privilege dthe religious
code
At first God generated Adam and later he
generated Eve from an Adams rib
Women were inferior of men
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Eve tented Adam
Women are tempters, devilish and a source of
perdition for men
Women had to be controlled and leoded
Women were totally dominated by the male members
of their family
Women were expected to obey
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Marriagethe most important event in a womans
life
The choice of the husband was made by the family
usually on economic grounds
Once married
She was considered her husbands property and she
had to bear children
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There were different kind of women
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• The wife
• The nun
• The businnes woman

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Paesants wife

• Her life was really hard

She shared her husbands work in the fields
Silvestro Lega, Portrait of a countrywoman
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Wife of a merchant

• When towns began to grow in size and echonomic
  importance merchants began to prosper

The wife was often his businnes partner
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Wife of the landed gentleman

• She was busy managing her household

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Nun

• They were unmarriagiable daughter
• (expecially in the upper classes)

• They had a good education

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Businnes woman

• They were emancipated
• They became more active in the workikg life of
  the cities
• They were indipendent
• They didnt follow the status quo.

The wife of Bath
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THE MEDIEVAL WOMAN IN CHAUCERS Prologue
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THE DIFFERENT FIGURES OF WOMEN
THE WIFE
THE BRIDE
THE MOTHER
THE PRIORESS
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• THE WIFE OF BATH
• married woman who belongs to the middle class
• Bold was her face, and handsome florid too
  she was gap-toothed
• no doubt she knew of all the cures for love, for
  at that game she was a past mistress in
  company how she could laugh and joke!

• THE PRIORESS
• Religious woman
• attactive lady well shaped nose beautiful
  blue-grey eyes very small and red tender mouth
• her greatest pleasure was in etiquette most
  daintly shed reach for what she ate in order
  to be thought a person well deserving

SOCIAL STATUS
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
RELATIONS WITH OTHER PEOPLE
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THE WIFE
THE PRIORESS
Realistic woman, not husbands property
Ideal woman who comes near the stereotype of
the Madonna
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THE MOTHER
Interested only of the hineritance
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THE END
FRANCESCA FONTANA
TERESA TURCO
ARIANNA ZANCHIN