How do The Pardoner’s Tale, The Clerk’s Tale, and The Miller’s Tale compare in The Canterbury Tales?

The Clerk of Oxenford can be viewed as an early feminist. He is chided for looking like a “maiden” and he attempts to convince his audience about the value that women hold in society. He maintains that women deserve happiness and decries the notion of “a suffering wife.”

To add a complex counterpoint to the Clerk’s idealism, the Pardoner seems to serve as a vessel for Chaucer to expose the Catholic Church’s hypocrisy. The Pardoner claims that he would take money from a vulnerable widow and her children. This implies that the church believes women are weak and deserve to suffer so that powerful institutions (run by men) can accumulate wealth.  

In contrast to the Pardoner, the Miller weaves a comic tale that celebrates women’s autonomy. The Miller seems to support the Clerk’s message and warns against attempting to control women’s behavior. John, the Miller’s Tale protagonist, attempts to control his wife and finds himself cuckolded and humiliated for trying to unearth “God’s secrets” and “his wife’s.”