So, without further ado, here's the prospectus I came up with for my research. I'm going to ask her Tuesday about the final product I wish to write, which is in a segmented, technical format. I think if I can THINK THIS WAY, I can write this information clearer. Right now, if I have to write 15 pages of prose (no section breaks and headers), I won't make it!
Prospectus: The correlation between fictional female pilgrims during Medieval England and actual accounts of female pilgrims during this time through the use of writing and religion.
Susan Signe Morrison has said in her writings that women were the reasons families were what they were during medieval times. Without a woman, a man would not have someone to marry; the woman was the one who gave birth to the children; and the woman cooked and cleaned the home. All of these items made up a “family” for which the woman was the central figure. If any of these items lacked, like woman not being able to have children because of being infertile to the woman having any ailment and not allowing her to manage the household, the “family” did not survive. This was a reason that a woman would go on a pilgrimage. There are also many other reasons a woman would go on a pilgrimage during the medieval times. Other writings have told how, even though women did go on pilgrimage, they were highly advised against travelling. During this time, travel was very dangerous, especially for women. Accounts have been written of women being raped and killed while on pilgrimage, not even arriving to their destinations. For all of the accounts of pilgrimage as a whole, more women did go on pilgrimage than was documented.
During this time, Chaucer wrote the book, The Canterbury Tales, of which a character, the Wife of Bath was one of the pilgrims. I intend to research more into her background. Based on what was written in the book about her and her tale, she was not portrayed as a typical woman of that time period, nor was she portrayed as a typical pilgrim. There was no presentation of children in this book. During this time in history, a woman’s primary role was to bear children. Being that the woman was the central figure in a family, why did she seem so out of place in this book? I intend to compare her character profile to accounts of real women pilgrims of that time period. I also intend to discuss how she used religion to support her claims and how religion was important to real women pilgrims of the time period.
Overall, I would like to research why women went on pilgrimage. Did women have limits to where they were allowed to go and where they did go? Many women were known pilgrimage to local religious sites. When a woman wanted to go on a pilgrimage, what issues surfaced? How did social order affect a woman’s desire for pilgrimage? Women often went on pilgrimage because of medical issues with them or their children. How did the family unit handle this desire?
I would also like to include research on The Book of Margery Kempe, however at this point, I do not know enough about the book or the character behind the book to give enough questions to answer.
That' s it! So exciting, eh?
Lots of love,
Cathy
8^ )
1 comment:
Sounds interesting! I did a similar report myself in school although I focused on women in the New World and how they adjusted to a foriegn land.
Post a Comment