The representations of medieval women in the works of Chaucer and Dante: `The canterbury tales` and `The divine comedy`

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın ana amacı ortaçağ toplumunda ve edebiyatında kadının yerini incelemek ve bu toplumun genel özelliklerini edebi metinler vasıtasıyla ortaya koymaktır.İlk bölümde- inceleme feminist teori baz alınarak yapıldığından- kadın tarafından ve kadın üzerine verilen birtakım eserler, kadının toplumdaki sosyal yeriyle birlikte değerlendirilecektir. Bu değerlendirmelerin yanı sıra edebiyat başlığı altında edebi tür bilgileri de verilecektir.İkinci bölümde ise incelenecek eserlere giriş kısımlarıyla birlikte ortaçağ kadınının yerini irdeleyen ve dönemin güç dengelerini alegorik tiplemelerle değerlendiren kısımlar da yer alacaktır.Bu çalışma ilgili eserleri karşılaştırmalı kısa bir değerlendirmeyle sonuçlandırılacaktır.

This study will make the reader to acknowledge about the background of middle ages. In this thesis; medieval society, way of their lives, important happenings and issues of those times will be presented.Additionally, literature given in medieval age will be examined through the language, themes and genres. The works of that time consisted of mostly theological items. Besides courtly love was a part of medieval literature.Since this study is made from a feministic point of view, women literature ? works given by women and on women ? will also be analyzed. To reveal the position and representatives of medieval women, the works of Chaucer and Dante will comparatively be applied. The lives and other themes in the works of these authors will be placed in this study as well as their approaches to woman figure in literature.The first chapter will deal with the position of women presenting a relevant glance at the literature given by and on women as well as giving information about genre of those times. To help this analysis from theorical point of view a section about feminist criticism will also be placed in the first chapter.Along with introductions to the works that are going to be examined in this paper, The Divine Comedy and The Canterbury Tales, women in these works will be analyzed from the points of allegory, gender discourse, power structure, virtues and having a voice.In the conclusion part the two works will be evaluated comparatively regarding to the statements in the previous chapter and to the feminist point of view.