The Caged Wife

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While there were a few lessons/ morals in "The Manciple's Tale", the one that stood out the most to me was that a person's nature, like an animal's, is a powerful influence. Men cannot control what is someone's primal nature. The Manciple tells the group, "God it woot, ther may no man embrace/ As to destreine a thing which that nature/ Hath naturally set in a creature" (160-162).

Not that it needs to be said, but I do not condone the wife cheating on Phebus, but I think that it is interesting that the Manciple compared her desires to an animal's. After the discussion we had on "The Nun's Priest's Tale" the other week about how in medieval times animals were thought to have no soul, it was interesting to me that this tale made the implication that humans have no more control over their behavior than animals. The Manciple describes Phebus' wife like being a caged bird or a house cat, owned and living outside of her nature.

Comparing wives to a caged bird or house cat is statement that says when men control the wives, the women are no different than a kept animal, and eventually they will act out their true nature no matter how well they are loved or treated, like the cat who drinks milk, but then sees a mouse (175-177). The control does not stop the act, the wife will just look for another way. We have seen this in "The Miller's Tale" with John and Alison's marriage and "The Merchant's Wife" like January and May. The wives in these stories like Phebus' wife find ways to have their affairs regardless of the control and jealousy the husband had.