Wallace, Kristine Gilmartin.
Rice University Studies 62.2 (1976): 99-110.
For Walter and Griselda clothing has both "political/social" and "spiritual/personal" meanings which symbolize stages in their relationship. When Walter sees that Griselda remains virtuous beneath the array of fine clothing and social status which…
Burnley, J. D.
Yearbook of English Studies 6 (1976): 16-25.
The wording of MerT has many echoes, some heretofore unidentified, of medieval marriage services. Suggestions of the Christian ideal are thus juxtaposed to the characters' perverse misunderstandings of marriage throughout the tale, providing an…
Frost, Cheryl.
Literature in North Queensland, Australia (James Cook University, North Queensland) 5.1 (1976): 37-45.
Jungian psychological analysis of the character of January, arguing that he shows the characteristics of the introverted type--capacity for abstraction, extreme subjectivity, and a resultant poor grasp of the outside world. January has trouble…
Gates, Barbara T.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 77 (1976): 369-75.
The references to the licentious god Pluto and the rich and lecherous Solomon that Proserpina talks of contribute to the notion of covetousness in MerT. The language of trade, commercial values, and the references to Solomon's prosperity in commerce…
Beauty and cynicism co-exist in MerT: we feel the characters capable of tenderness and right self-affirmation as well as nastiness; January's abandoning the knowledge his recovery brings shows that we see more truly by rejecting "knowing" on the…
Wurtele, Douglas J.
Proceedings of the Third Annual Symposium of Ottawa-Carleton Medieval-Renaissance Club 1 (1976): 56-74.
The "sponsa" of the "Song of Songs" is traditionally interpreted as Mary, and thus through January's aubade (4.2138-48) May becomes an ironic echo of the Virgin. The deep ironies of this association reflect the more straightforward presentations of…
PhyT treats appearance and reality, fraud and honesty at the individual, familial, political, and cosmic levels of governance. Virginius' pardon of Claudius can be seen as an act that, on the cosmic level, affirms God's charitable governance and…
Jungman, Robert E.
Philological Quarterly 55 (1976): 279-81.
The theme of the Pardoner's sermon, "Radix malorum est cupiditas," comes from 1 Tim. 6:10. Appropriately, the dispute between the Pardoner and the Host following the sermon illustrates Paul's assertion in 1 Tim. 6 that teaching based on "cupiditas"…
Morgan, Gerald.
Modern Language Review 71 (1976): 241-55.
Modern psychological exploration of individual consciousness is not applicable to medieval literature which, as in "Cliges" and the "Romaunt of the Rose," assumes unity between action and intention. Hence the issue of the closing of PardT is not,…
Patterson, Lee.
Medievalia et Humanistica 7 (1976): 153-73.
Confessional literature illumines the Pardoner's performance by explaining the motives which lie behind it. Parallels with the "false confession" and an analysis of the pitfalls of despair and presumption suggest that the Pardoner is suffering from…
Peterson, Joyce E.
Chaucer Review 10 (1976): 326-36.
Like Vice of morality drama, the Pardoner plays a part calculated to lure his audience toward sin by making them treat wickedness as a joke they can innocently enjoy, but the Host thwarts this gibe. Thus the Pardoner, again like Vice, becomes the…
Sherman, John Stores.
Dissertation Abstracts International 37 (1976): 995A.
Chap. I studies Chaucer's awareness of the assets and liabilities of working within a tradition in PF and Purse. Chap. II argues that HF is finished. Chap. III sees the contradiction between the Pardoner's confession and tale as an effort to put…
Conley, John.
Studies in Philology 73 (1976): 42-61.
It is not likely that Chaucer links the topaz primarily with chastity in naming his knight Thopas. Rather, the poet uses the superlative reputation of the topaz as brightest of gems in a general chivalric context.
While using the Italians' narrative structures in MkT, Chaucer twists the styles and themes of Dante and Boccaccio. The pathos and direct narrative of Chaucer's Hugelyn supplant the horror and ambiguities of Dante's Ugolino. Chaucer's Cenobia…
Gallacher, Patrick (J.)
Speculum 51 (1976): 49-68.
Many medieval sources describe food and purgation as having moral, theological, and metaphysical meanings. In NPT the interrelationships between food, humors, emotions, free will, and divine foreknowledge point to a model of continuous…
In NPT, the thrust of the satire on the relation between foreknowledge and free will is that theories like Bishop Bradwardine's simple necessity, St. Augustine's paradox, and, most notably, Boethius' conditional necessity are too abstract and…
Collette, Carolyn P.
Chaucer Review 10 (1976): 337-49.
In SNT, Chaucer works within the theological tradition of Plato, Augustine, and Prudentius to instruct Christians in their proper attitude toward this world: a "thing" perceived by the physical senses, especially sight, is an apparent reality that…
SNP and SNT express a feminist point of view not present in the original sources and analogues, but added by Chaucer in order to portray dramatically her character. She is contrasted with the Prioress and the Nun's Priest.
Reames, Sherry Lee.
Dissertation Abstracts International 36 (1976): 8036A-37A
Comparison with its sources reveals that the changes in ABC destroy the unity but not the coherence. Chaucer's version comes closer than its source to fulfilling Augustine's recommendations. SNT falls short of its sources in conveying the ethical…
Manly's reordering of the final lines of ParsP in his 1928 edition is contested by manuscript evidence, Chaucer's general usage of pronouns, and the intelligibility and literary excellence of the original version.
Bie, Wendy A.
English Language Notes 14 (1976): 9-13.
Readers err in trying to define the time-scheme of TC too closely, since only a few days of the story's three years are narrated in detail. One must distinguish, therefore, between historical and dramatic chronology, noting Chaucer's emphasis more…
Dobbs, Elizabeth Ann.
Dissertation Abstracts International 37 (1976): 960A.
The action of TC takes place in both naturalistic and schematic space. This opposition is reinforced by the creation of an intrusive narrator and a fictional audience. Schematic space functions as a principle of limitation, reinforcing the…
As narrator Chaucer partakes heartily in the general mood of each book of TC. The detached coldness of the poem's apocalyptic ending suggests divine omniscience, making the reader acutely aware of the difference between his perception of the mutable…
Knighten, Merrell Audy,Jr.
Dissertation Abstracts International 36 (1976): 8076A.
Chaucer's poetry should be regarded as aural rather than oral. Aural poetry is less formulaic and digressive than poetry composed extemporaneously, but it too has special characteristics since it was to be heard and not read. TC reveals Chaucer's…
Kurtz, Diane Gray.
Dissertation Abstracts International 36 (1976): 6116A.
In TC idolatrous love is rationalized by being conceived as one of the workings of nature. By Chaucer's time the Augustinian view of the valuelessness of temporal activities had been modified so that St. Thomas Aquinas could attach positive value to…
