Browse Items (16471 total)

Although N. F. Blake (N&Q 224:110-11 and Thomas W. Ross N&Q 226:202) assert that the Miller's use of "astromye" reflects his literacy, it seems likely that the form existed as a plausible variant. The B text of "Piers Plowman" also contains sixteen…

Although there were only a few English fabliaux before the late fourteenth century, an English fabliau genre can be identified as distinct from the earlier French in dramatic aspects, i.e., the use of direct speech. "Dame Sirith," for example,…

Symkyn's name is diminutive of Simon and thus calls up the story of Simon the Magician as found in the Acts of Peter. In a larger sense the rise and inevitable fall of pride that is the tales structural skeleton gains resonance when placed against…

MLT is a test case of Chaucer's use of Christian materials directed toward a "new human center." Christ and Christianity are uniquely transformed into a pervasive humanism, through Chaucer's tolerant ambivalence.

The idea that virtue is perfect only when it is enjoyable is corrected in WBT with the discourse on gentilesse. The three main concepts regarding pleasure discussed in WBT are the equation of pleasure with perfection, the coexistence of pleasure and…

The description of the Friar, the tone of his remarks and his tale, and the response of the Summoner are couched in ambiguities. These are clarified if we are aware of the implicit context in which he operates: a social hierarchy, based on…

Sumner Ferris (AN&Q 9:71-72) sees a pun on the name "Wade" in MerT 1684: "lat us waden out of his mateere." More probably the image is one of wading with difficulty out of a stream. The MerT allusion to "Wades boot" is a metaphor for "the (male)…

Certain fourteenth-century works (the York plays, "Confessio Amantis," "Piers Plowman," CYT) function by placing inadequate characters in crisis situations. The audience learns from their limited reactions. Most complex is MerT: the narrator's…

The character of January is indebted to the doctrine of "doublemindedness" promulgated in the Epistle of James, especially as interpreted by Bede. The tale demonstrates the inner temptation undergone by those who waver between charity and cupidity;…

In adapting the fourth "question d'amore" of the "Filocolo" into the story of FranT, Chaucer changed the task from a flowering garden in January to "remoeve alle the rokkes" from the Brittany coast. Chaucer may have derived this idea from Ovid's…

Chaucer moves away from the Catholic concept of love, which abhors adultery. FranT is a happy tale in spite of the serious unanswered questions about God and life and love.

Sexual frustration during Arveragus's absence motivates Dorigen's verbal infidelity. Aurelius, however, can neither accept her from her husband nor pay the magician with whom the squire has lowered himself to deal.

FranT, a part of the Marriage Group, which itself is part of a larger design in "patience" or "grace," demonstrates a subtle balance between the courtly tradition and "gentilesse" but does not give the final answer to the marriage debate.

In spite of many similarities to saints' legends, PhyT does not entirely conform to the genre. Instead of being a tale of faith affirmed, it is one of faith betrayed. Virginius's lack of faith leads him to slay Virginia rather than allow her faith…

Chaucer's power lies particularly in the way he adapted and altered his sources and mirrored the world around him.

Discusses the meaning of "fabliau" and comments on Chaucer's influence on later development of the genre in prose and verse.

Only Chaucer places the story of the rioters' search for gold in plague time. The article examines the implications of the plague setting and the plague in literature to explain Chaucer's choice of plague setting.

Reviews Augustinian criticism of R. P. Miller, B. F. Huppé, Lee W. Patterson, G. L. Kittridge, and D. W. Robertson. The Pardoner criticizes the church that licenses him for its follies and corruption. His performance is considered a "social gaffe,…

Allusions to serpent and sting intensify the irony of the Pardoner's posture as preacher. The imagery is further complicated and intensified by the natural association readers make with the Pauline passage on the sting of death.

The complex relationships of Pardoner, audiences, and the Host reveal a character who simultaneously believes in the efficacy of pardon and in the foolishness of those who believe in it. The pilgrims laugh at him rather than being outraged, and he…

Readers frequently imagine the Pardoner to be a real person. He is, of course, Chaucer's fiction, and the poet shows his mastery of narrative by combining the "Prologue" and the "Tale," underscoring the unity of the two by iterative imagery,…

The Pardoner threatens to lead the pilgrims astray to venerate his dubious relics, not to seek Saint Thomas. PardT mirrors this aberrancy. Thus the Host, as acknowledged leader, must be the one to snub him violently before order can be restored.

In Panfilo's tale of Ser Ciappelletto in the "Decameron," we are directed to respond, disapproving, to that character's hypocrisy, but the Pardoner, in the tradition of philosophical nominalism, so confuses the differences among word, intent, and…

Suggests Chaucer's borrowings from "Roman de la Rose."

The garden encounter between Daun John and the merchant's wife is a parody on man's first sin in Eden. The three characters exhibit the sins of lechery, avarice, and vanity. The Monk parallels the tempter; the Wife, Eve; and the Merchant, Adam.