Essay on Comparing Cantebury Tales and The Decameron

Comparing Cantebury Tales and The Decameron There are many different roles for women shown in â€Å"The Canterbury Tales† and â€Å"The Decameron†. Both books take place around the same time frame, 1300AD. â€Å"The Canterbury Tales†, takes place in London, England and â€Å"The Decameron† takes place in Florence, Italy. It would be just to think that since both books take place in a western civilization, both books would reflect the same morals and daily life styles. This is not the case at all. Throughout this paper I will attempt to show how these two books portrayed a totally different lifestyle. In â€Å"The Decameron†, by Giovanni Boccaccio, the rolls of men and women are what you would expect of a western society in the 1300’s. Women are generally†¦show more content†¦She did not try to stop him. I do not think that she would have been able to stand up to him. It seems that women in this time really did not have a place in the male world. Everything was male dominated a nd all actions done by a male were certainly not to be questioned by a female. In â€Å"The Canterbury Tales†, the roles that society gave males and female was much different. Throughout my reading of â€Å"The Canterbury Tales†, I noticed that the roles society placed upon men and women were much different than that of â€Å"The Decemaron†. In this culture men were seen as naive and gullible. Women did not have a direct role over the men of society, but behind the scenes of public life, women ruled over men. It was not that men were powerless, it was that men were just tuned out to what was going on and let themselves be manipulated. For example in the story titled â€Å"The Millers Tale†, the husband appeared to just be blind to the fact he was being cheated on. His wife had been having a sexual affair with a man that was basically living in with the family. Over time, she manipulated both of the men into doing things she wanted. She had total control over both of them and neither of them suspected a thing. The wife had her secret lover tell her husband a great flood was coming. She did this hoping that he would leave and she could c ontinue her life with the other man. When her husband heard of this he thought only of his wife’s safety. He was