the targets of francois rabelais in Gargatua and Pantagruel

Francois Rabelais craftily picks out certain tendencies he observes, in the world in which he lives, and expresses his disapproval through coarse satire in Gargantua and Pantagruel while using several examples from many allegorical sources. Included in his vast range of societal offenders are women, lawyers, and clerical members. Rabelais more than merely touches on each of these subjects and does not hesitate to slander them thoroughly before advancing on to his next unfortunate victim of criticism.
As was customary in the fourteenth century, women were held in low stature in France in comparison with men. Rabelais, no doubt, shared these beliefs and expresses them through his satire in Gargatua and Pantagruel. This is exemplified in his first book in which Rabelais begins to mention something about a woman, but soon stops himself because the discussion is not worth his time. Secondarily, he spends much of his time in book three discussing the subject of cuckoldry as it pertains...