Gender
Studying ‘gender’ in the Middle Ages can be complicated. In studying gender, academics mainly focus on studying women, instead of both sexes.[1] The “Squire’s Tale” is a chivalric romance. This means it focuses around romance with themes involving love, so it is right to consider gender as a key topic in this tale.
OUTWARD APPEARANCE
The outward appearance of a person, especially a woman, in a romance plot is important for the entertainment of the tale. It is the first thing about which the Squire talks when describing the leading lady of this tale.
That yongest was, and highte Canacee.
But for to telle yow al hir beautee,
It lyth nat in my tonge, n’ yn my konnyng;[2]
And then goes on to say that his English is insufficient to capture Canacee’s beauty, going to extreme measures to prove how her beauty is inexpressible.
There are mini tales and romances that the Squire starts to tell in his tale before the Franklin cuts him off from completing his entire tale. These also center around romance and even how Algarsif “wan Theodora to his wif”[3] and then how Cambalo would win Canacee.[4] When introducing women to the tale they are first admired for their beauty then described as prizes to be won. The women are objectified, as they generally are in chivalric romances, down to prizes for the men to win.
INCEST
In order to make the female character interesting, the Squire subtly promises ‘incest’ between Canacee and Cambalo to make the one main female character interesting. The Squire tames the exotic elements of the tale by trying to make the incest narrative a simple ingredient in the formula of this romance plot.[5] Since the reader already is familiar with Canacee and Cambalo’s possible incest plot, the Squire seals this when he mentions Cambalo winning Canacee as a wife.
And after wol I speke of Cambalo,
That faught in lystes with the bretheren two
For Canacee er that he myghte hire wynne.[6]
This promise of incest sexualizes Canacee and gives her sexual intrigue in this tale, something none of the other male characters have.
EASTERN INFLUENCE
The historicity of the “Squire’s Tale” adds to the shaping of the romance within this tale. This tale is particularly Eastern in a way none of the other Canterbury Tales are Eastern. From the outset it is set in the East, a particular location for this tale, setting it apart from the other tales that refer to the Classics or their modern Western settings.
At Sarray, in the land of Tartarye,
Ther dwelte a kyng that werreyed Russye[7]
It is important to define Orientalism and to understand it as the “expression of Western power over the space outside its cultural perimeter”.[8] Orientalism is the representation of the people of Asia, usually the Middle East, in a stereotypical way. The Squire uses Eastern and Western aspects of Romance in crafting the themes of love and pursuit of women.
The Eastern tale Thousand and One Nights shows a more positive view on Eastern sexuality, gender and romance to decrease the “otherness” involved with the Western infatuation with how exotic the Eastern world is.[9] The West’s stories about the East normally involved extreme sexual encounters and violence, so the “Squire’s Tale” amount of licentiousness should not be blown out of proportion since the Squire, who spent time in the East, was actually showing a pretty tame narrative compared to a ‘normal’ account.
Canacee does not have the typical role of an Eastern feminine hero, though Eastern women were normally known for their strong will and desires.[10] Canacee displays more of the Western ideas for femaleness by being beautiful, quiet, and subservient.
RELIGION
Understanding the Orientalism inherent in this tale is crucial to considering ‘gender’ because of how the medieval West often considered women from the East as hyper-sexualized.[11] Considering how Christianity painted Islam with descriptions of the rampant sexuality then observed in this Eastern religion, it affected the Western lens of how people viewed the East.[12] This affects the viewing of Eastern women in general and objectifies them to more sexual objects than the Western roles of chaste women.
Although Islam is not directly mentioned in this tale, it still was a great facet of the East and it is implied that the land of Tartary is not Christian. The Squire does not condemn the king for not being Christian. This tale actually shows a more tolerant position on a secular religion.[13]In describing the great Cambyuskan he shows how the king thrived despite having the religion of his birth, an implicitly non-Christian religion.
Hym lakked noght that longeth to a kyng.
As of the secte of which that he was born
He kepte his lay, to which that he was sworn;
And therto he was hardy, wys, and riche[14]
Masculinity, femininity and sex were Christianized in the Middle Ages. The church was very involved with sex in the Middle Ages and could strictly control this realm in the community since the Church could get money through bribery in cases of infidelity or sex before marriage.[15] Christianity informed ideas of sex and marriage in Chaucer’s society. Christianity informed Chaucer’s ideas of sex and gender and this had many implications. It gave way to a passive female role and an active male role[16] with the parallel of God as the patriarchy to which women were expected to be subservient. Canacee plays this subservient role in “The Squire’s Tale”. She calls to God and her father for the power to heal when she talks to the falcon:
For Goddes love, com fro the tree adoun;
And as I am a kynges doghter trewe,
If that I verraily the cause knewe
Of youre disese, if it lay in my myght,
I wolde amenden it er that it were nyght,
As wisly helpe me grete God of kynde![17]
Christianity influenced the view of gender for both men and women. For men, self-control was considered the greatest virtue when it came to sexuality and lust.[18] A man could not be at the mercy of his lust according to the Christian view of what it means to be masculine.[19] This influences the role of the chivalric knight who acts becomingly or attempts to marry his damsel, not simply ravaging her at first glance.
This idea correlates to gender in the “Squire’s Tale” because it shows the context in which Chaucer writes this tale and the lens with which women are seen in this tale.
THE FALCON PARALLEL
In the “Squire’s Tale” one of the main plot points involves Canacee hearing the cries of a lady falcon and listening to her sad cries about a male falcon who wooed her then jilted her. The theme of ‘gender’ in the falcon’s tale shows through in how the male falcon jilts the female falcon and betrays her.
As Canacee was pleyyng in hir walk,
Ther sat a faucon over hire heed ful hye,
That with a pitous voys so gan to crye
That all the wode resouned of hire cry.[20]
There is a parallel between this tale and a historical Eastern account. The writing style of the “Squire’s Tale” mimics an “interlaced form of 
[poetry and] romance” that Chaucer plays with and connects with other Eastern literary works and narratives.[21] The tale of al-Muluk and Princess Dunya revolved around a fantastical story of a talking bird couple and makes a direct connection to the scene Canacee where was taught about “men and their attraction to newefangelnesse from the talking falcon who had been abandoned by her mate”. [22] The “Squire’s Tale” uses Eastern historical accounts as a basis for its own tale, thus giving a unique angle within the Canterbury Tales about an Eastern tale.
Footnotes
[1] Lewis, “Gender and Sanctity in the Middle Ages.” 208
[2] Chaucer, “The Squire’s Tale”. V. 33-35
[3] Chaucer, “The Squire’s Tale”. V. 664
[4] Chaucer, “The Squire’s Tale”. V. 668
[5] Fyler, “Domesticating the Exotic.” 33
[6] Chaucer, “The Squire’s Tale”. V. 667-669
[7] Chaucer, “The Squire’s Tale”. V. 9-10
[8] Lynch, “East Meets West.” 77
[9] Lynch, “East Meets West.” 78-80
[10] Lynch, “East Meets West.” 87.
[11] Nirenberg, “Christendom and Islam.” 152
[12] Nirenberg, “Christendom and Islam,” 152
[13] DiMarco, “The Historical Basis,” 57.
[14] Chaucer, “The Squire’s Tale”. V. 16-19
[15] Blamires, “Love, Marriage, Sex, Gender.” 6
[16] Blamires, “Love, Marriage, Sex, Gender.” 8
[17] Chaucer, “The Squire’s Tale”. V. 464-469
[18] Cooper, “The Gender of Grace.” 7
[19] Cooper, “The Gender of Grace.” 8-9
[20] Chaucer, “The Squire’s Tale”. V. 410-
[21] Heffermen, “Chaucer’s Squire Tale.” 4
[22] Heffermen, “Chaucer’s Squire Tale.” 5
Works Cited
Blamires, Alcuin. “Love, Marriage, Sex, Gender.” In Chaucer: An Oxford Guide. Edited by Steve Ellis, 3-23. Oxford: Oxford UP. 2005
Bleeth, Kenneth. “Orientalism and the Critical History of the Squire’s Tale.” In Chaucer’s Cultural Geography. Edited by Kathryn Lynch, 21– 31. New York and London: Routledge, 2002.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Edited by Jill Mann. London: Penguin Books, 2005
Cooper, Kate and Leyser, Conrad. “The Gender of Grace: Impotence, Servitude, and Manliness in the 5th Century West.” In Gendering the Middle Ages. Edited by Pauline Stafford and Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker, 7–17. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.
DiMarco, Vincent J. “The Historical Basis of Chaucer’s Squire’s Tale.” In Chaucer’s Cultural Geography. Edited by Kathryn Lynch, 56-67. New York and London: Routledge, 2002.
Heffernan, Carol. “Chaucer’s Squire’s Tale: Content and Structure.” The Orient in Chaucer and Medieval Romance. 1-17. Rutgers University. Boydell and Brewer. 2003
Fyler, John. “Domesticating the Exotic in the Squire’s Tale.” In Chaucer’s Cultural Geography. Edited by Kathryn Lynch, 32–56. New York and London: Routledge, 2002
Lewis, Katherine J. “Gender and Sanctity in the Middle Ages.” In Gendering the Middle Ages. Edited by Pauline Stafford. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2000. 205-211.
Lynch, Kathryn L. “East Meets West in Chaucer’s Squire’s and Franklin’s Tales.” In Chaucer’s Cultural Geography. Edited by Kathryn Lynch. New York and London: Routledge, 2002.
Nirenberg, David. Neighboring Faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the Middle Ages and Today. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016.
Taylor, Craig. “The Squire.” Historians on Chaucer: The ‘General Prologue’ to the Canterbury Tales. 63-76. Oxford Scholarship Online. 2014.
