The Romance of the Rose

While many parts of The Romance of the Rose are intentionally satirical, the treatment of women in the piece—which alternates between unflattering stereotypes and idealization—reveals one of the primary themes: the importance of gender roles and the inherent misogyny in the courtly love literary tradition.

In the poem, many characters give wildly divergent speeches on the nature of women and their dealings with men. The Old Woman, who advises Fair Welcome, depicts courtly love as little more than a cynical and transactional game, which women can only gain by if they are willing to be cunning and manipulative in their treatment of men. Her speech draws upon many stereotypes associated with women in the popular literature of the period, dwelling upon a woman’s supposed propensity to use her looks to gain advantages over her lovers. Genius also echoes some of these stereotypes in his speech to Nature, wherein he criticizes women as duplicitous and impulsive. These invocations of popular stereotypes reinforce some of the gender rhetoric common at the time while also subtly interrogating such tropes: The Old Woman’s advice, for example, suggests that love is the one sphere in which women can exercise true power and agency.