id not have a place in the male world. Everything was male dominated and all actions done by a male were certainly not to be questioned by a female. In The Canterbury Tales, the roles that society gave males and female was much different. Throughout my reading of The Canterbury Tales, I noticed that the roles society placed upon men and women were much different than that of 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 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 continue her life with the other man. When her husband heard of this he thought only of his wifes safety. He was totally blind to what had been going on the whole time. He put lots of effort into constructing things that can be used as boats, and storing supplies for the time when this great flood comes. This plainly shows the domination his wife had over him and the other man. Women are portrayed as masters of manipulation and the men just go along with whatever is going on never suspecting a thing.The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio and The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, show two very different societies. These societies live life much differently. The roles of men and women are completely opposite in these two books. It is amazing to see how different tw...
