Hurst, Mary L.
Selected Papers from the West Virginia Shakespeare and Renaissance Association 8 : 1-8, 1983.
Hurst argues that Shakespeare's Cressida is an "embryonic feminist"; Cressida compares favorably with Chaucer's Criseyde, who was elsewhere demeaned in subsequent accounts.
Mukherji, Sajni.
Supriya Chaudhuri and Sukanta Chaudhuri, eds. Writing Over: Medieval to Renaissance (Calcutta: Allied, in collaboration with the Department of English, Jadavpur University, 1996), pp. 1-10.
Reads the dreams of Criseyde and of the Wife of Bath as "counter discourse" to the male dominant discourse of prophetic dreaming. The dreams of the women are more complex and without clear directives.
Because violated virginity must be read as a violation of social cohesion, the so-called digressions on guardianship in PhyT are central to the theme of guarding the public good.
The metaphor in Eph. 4:22-24 of putting off old clothes and donning new ones influenced the use of this image in PardT, "King Lear," "Gulliver's Travels," and "The Brothers Karamazov." As the Pardoner's alter ego and a representation of human…
Fraga Fuentes, María Amelia.
SELIM 9 : 79-90, 1999.
Compares the figures of the Old Man in PardT and Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus," arguing that each represents the "Christian paradox of moral strength manifesting itself in physical weakness."
Jordan, William Chester.
Sheila Delany, ed. Chaucer and the Jews: Sources, Contexts, Meanings (New York and London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 25-42.
Examines the framing narratives and the relics in PardT to demonstrate that Chaucer achieves dramatic closure at the end of the Tale with the pilgrims' rejection of the relics.
Zeikowitz, Richard E.
College English 65 : 67-80, 2002.
Characterizations of Grendel, the Green Knight, and Chaucer's Pardoner can be used for a "queer pedagogy" based on the theories of Henry Giroux and Stanley Aronowitz. Zeikowitz suggests discussions and written assignments that encourage analysis of…
Zeikowitz, Richard E.
Dalhousie Review 82.1 : 55-73, 2002.
The Pardoner's "altercation" with the Host "reveals how queer power disarms heteronormativity." In GP and PardPT, the Pardoner does not fit modern categories of "gay" or "bisexual"; his queerness is aligned with several forms of verbal and social…
When seen in light of probable sources in Decameron 8.1-2 and contrasted with Chaucer's other fabliaux, ShT is an "elegantly sophisticated comedy of bourgeois values [written] by a socially and intellectually elevated vintner's son."
Although critics often criticize the monk and wife of ShT for their lack of morals, the merchant's own dealings are not without blame. His bill of exchange may be illegal, and it parallels the arrangement between monk and wife. All three characters…
Examines books of medieval maritime law (e.g., the "Oakbook of Southhampton," the "Tavola Amalfitana," and the "Consulat de Mar") to argue that the Shipman of GP knew the law, "worked the system," probably engaged in smuggling, and exploited…
Focusing on the relationship between images of violence in PrT and real history, critics seek to redress history's ills. Recent readings reflect professional and institutional assumptions. While not "de-historicizing" PrT, critics may…
D'Arcy, Anne Marie.
Elaine Treharne, ed. Writing Gender and Genre in Medieval Literature: Approaches to Old and Middle English Texts (Cambridge: Brewer, 2002), pp. 117-36.
Examines traditional depictions of Jews; points to a parallel between the murder of the clergeon in PrT and ritual murder; links the clergeon with Christ and the Prioress with the Virgin; and concludes that PrT functions as a divinely inspired…
Depres, Denise L.
Sheila Delany, ed. Chaucer and the Jews: Sources, Contexts, Meanings (New York and London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 145-64.
Unlike the isolated narrative of Jews in CT (PrT), various narratives in the Vernon manuscript investigate the Jew in markedly different ways, going beyond demonization of Jews to debate their essential nature.
Halfim, Miriam.
Rio de Janeiro : Civilização Brasileira, 1984.
Halfim summarizes social conditions of Jews in early English society and assesses the depiction of Jews in PrT (pp. 22-34), Marlowe's "The Jew of Malta," and Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." The authors of all three works reiterate Christian…
Haas, Kurtis B.
Publications of the Medieval Association of the Midwest 5 : 58-73, 1998.
Haas examines Th as the "unstable center" of Fragment 7, especially in its parodies of the "problems of mercantile culture" initiated in ShT: money and sexuality.
Bowden defines "sentence," "sawe," and "proverbe" in relation to terms used in the French and Latin sources of Mel, comparing Mel to pedagogical proverb collections to explore Chaucer's "creative interaction with oral tradition."
Examines the depictions of Alexander, Caesar, and Peter of Cyprus in MkT in relation to their sources, arguing that the Monk attempts to impose inappropriate chivalric values on historical events; the Knight's interruption underscores the Monk's…
Baswell, Christopher.
New Medieval Literatures 5 : 8-58, 2002.
The calming of an "urban rabble" in Aeneid 1.148-56 was a topos in reports and rumors that surrounded the uprising of 1381 and in reports of similar conflicts at Lynn and London in 1377. Baswell explores the "anxieties, hopes, and tensions" of the…
Chaucer treats NPT in his characteristically ambiguous manner--transcending his sources, denying, or transfiguring them. The Nun's Priest loses control of his argument, but the poet does not. In reducing the Fall of Man to a literal episode, Chaucer…
Sanok assesses the urban performances of virgin martyr and Marian plays and the "exemplarity" of female saints' legends, examining how authorities sought to contain or appropriate the subversive potential of female piety. Considers SNT and how the…
Building on three generally acknowledged biblical motifs in MerT, Fumo suggests "the presence, indeed the dominance, of a fourth": the Crucifixion. Januarie's pain in marriage is associated with "Christ's suffering on the cross"; however, the…
