Wilson, Katharina M.
Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 4 (1985): 17-32.
Examination of the Wife of Bath's hypothesis that if women wrote stories literature would be misandric; yet men are the ones who promote the one-sided ideal of feminine excellence. Hrotsvita of Gandersheim and Christine de Pizan show women who are…
"Panne" in Chaucer's day sometimes designated a piece of clothing, sometimes a cooking utensil--and popular tradition associated the devil in hell with "pannes" (cooking utensils) and cauldrons. Chaucer's early audiences would have recognized in FrT…
The Summoner's "bokeleer" of cake is a hypocritical parody of the eucharistic Host ritual. A magic object, consecrated bread was used in "bread cures"--the Summoner hopes to use his "Host-bread shield" to cure his "sawcefleem."
Manning, Stephen.
Journal of Narrative Technique 15 (1985): 29-42.
The traditional paratactic style of folktales and a literary style emphasizing causation and motivation relate to allegorical themes: Walter's self-centeredness and Griselda's self-effacing love. A markedly different style in the Envoy relates to…
Morse, Charlotte C.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 7 (1985): 51-86.
Discusses fourteenth-century responses to the Griselda story--notably those of Petrarch, Philippe de Mezieres, and the "Menagier de Paris--focusing on their consistent understanding of the tale as an exemplary (not allegorical) account of heroic…
Brown, Peter.
Paul Strohm and Thomas J. Heffernan, eds. Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Proceedings, No. 1, 1984 (Knoxville, Tenn.: New Chaucer Society, 1985), pp. 231-43.
Three medieval optical authorities possibly known by Chaucer--Alhazen, Witelo, and Bartholomew--provide parallels for the visual deceptions at the end of MerT, which reflect the medieval tradition of "perspectiva."
Explores why Chaucer connected the theme of marriage with a fabliau of a pear-tree story, observing January's view of marriage and his actual married life.
Braswell surveys the mechanical devices in late-medieval culture and traces their origins in Continental and Arabic lands. She asserts that Chaucer was knowledgeable about machinery and its prevalence and that the magic tricks in FranT correspond to…
Though some readers have seen the contract in this tale as evidence of Chaucer's acceptance of the male's dominance in marriage, the relationship of Dorigen and Arveragus is actually an ideal society in miniature.
Braswell, Mary Flowers.
English Language Notes 23 (1985): 55-70.
Chaucer's influence on Faulkner is evident in the similarities between PardT and "Lizards in Jamshyd's Courtyard." Both stories concern three treasure seekers who make an ironic vow of loyalty and are guided in motion by a figure who represents…
Dane, Joseph A.
Notes and Queries 230 (1985): 155-56.
Three motifs in PardT have antecedents in Virgil's "Eclogue" 10, where basket weaving is a metaphor for making poetry. Rejecting physical labor, the Pardoner asserts "otium," associated with begging. In genre, PardT is a begging poem.
Harrow, Kenneth.
Kofi Anyidoho, Abioseh M. Porter, Daniel Racine, and Janice Spleth, eds. Interdisciplinary Dimensions of African Literature (Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1985), pp. 75-87.
Harrow explores social criticism in Sembene Ousmane's novella "Le Mandat" (film version "Mandabi") with references to thematic similarities in Chaucer's PardT. Both Ousmane and Chaucer portray the effects of unexpected treasure on its beneficiaries…
Hermann, John P.
Chaucer Review 19 (1985): 302-37.
The theme of dismemberment initially voiced in the metaphor of the "forstraught" hare (line 1295) reverberates throughout the tale, giving rise to secondary themes of exchange of roles and dissemination of vows, underpinned by references to saints'…
Dachslager, Earl L.
Lamar Journal of the Humanities 11 (1985): 43-50.
The anti-Semitism of PrT is deepened by Chaucer's emphasis on "youth, innocence, and spirituality of the victim." Malamud's "The Fixer"--based on the 1913 trial of a Russian Jew, Mendel Beiliss, for the murder of a Christian boy--humanizes and…
Fleissner, Robert F.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 86 (1985): 197-98.
"Loy" may refer to the law (from Old French "loy"), compounding the irony of the Prioress's oath "by Seinte Loy." In "taking an oath by the Law 'per se'," she would have taken a stand against unprincipled, secular swearing.
Hodges, Laura F.
Dissertation Abstracts International 46 (1985): 1620A
The headdress, cloak, and jewelry of the Prioress, correct or appropriate according to fourteenth-century views, conflict ironically with her character.
Rothwell, W[illiam].
Modern Language Review 80 (1985): 39-54.
Despite earlier movements to standardize French, from which English borrowed heavily, the language of Chaucer's Prioress would have been nonstandard both in pronunciation and in morphology. Analysis of Anglo-Norman documents is needed to assess…
Wurtele, Douglas (J.)
Revue de l'Universite d'Ottawa 55:1 (1985): 33-43.
The Prioress's synthesis of elements from the legends of the martyred schoolboy suggests that she is complying with papal bulls that prohibit accusing Jews of kidnapping and ritual murders, but muances of PrT, and association with Hugh of Lincoln,…
Murphy, Michael.
English Studies 66 (1985): 105-12.
Distinguishes between vow and boast in literary convention, traced down to the burlesques in "The Tournament of Tottenham" and Chaucer's Th. Considers the role of women as "taunters."
