Fyler, John M.
Mediaevalia 13 (1989, for 1987): 295-307.
Ovid's views on humanity's decline from the first age influence Chaucer's "Former Age": Chaucer's use of Lamech in WBT, SqT, and Anel; and his distrust of rhetorical ornament (as evidenced by the Franklin and BD, for example).
MLT, ClT, and PhyT address the same question: how can God allow the innocent to suffer and the wicked to go unpunished? Although in each case Chaucer enhances the virtue of the protagonist and the pathos of her suffering, he tests diverse…
The relationship between Troy's story and Criseyde's demonstrates Chaucer's vision of how common Destiny frames but ultimately releases individual free will. The "de casibus" frame comments on the human condition; like Troy and Criseyde, we are…
Brown, Emerson, Jr.
Mediaevalia 15 (1993, for 1989): 183-205.
Chaucer initially uses "worthy" for the Knight in GP with clear denotative meaning, but by the word's final appearance its meaning becomes ambiguous. The Knight is not being criticized; rather, the semantic degeneration of "worthy" indicates a…
Wimsatt, James I.
Mediaevalia 15 (1993, for 1989): 231-39.
Conventional source-and-analogue criticism of CT and TC, in particular, can be enhanced by concepts and taxonomies of intertextuality, especially the systems introduced by Gerard Genette and Manfred Pfister.
Kennedy, Edward Donald.
Mediaevalia 16 (1993, for 1990): 55-90.
Both Gower and Chaucer limit their use of Arthurian material to brief allusions, although Gower's allusions are more numerous, specific, and morally serious than are Chaucer's. Chaucer's allusions in WBT, PF, HF, LGW, SqT, Th, NPT, and Ros suggest…
Garbaty, Thomas J.
Mediaevalia 19 (1996, for 1993): 319-43.
Examines illumintions in manuscripts of Gower's "Confessio Amantis," arguing that they reflect contemporary difficulties in distinguishing between the author and the fictional persona. Includes depictions of Chaucer in miniatures and comparisons…
The limited success of Troilus' efforts to know the nature of love reflects a state of epistemology similar to certain skeptical trends in universities. A counterpoint to the skepticism and to Troilus' determinism leads, through a Boethian…
References to medieval treatises and exegetical tradition suggest that the Pardoner's connection with ale, dove, and tree indicates that, through avarice, he is too literal to preach God's word. The Old Man, taken literally by the Pardoner,…
Comments on literary framing structures in manuals of religious instruction and confession, from the "Somme le Roi" to ParsT. Briefly compares ParsT to "Jacob's Well."
The discourse of "fin amor" places the male subject in a feminine position; in BD, the absence of White problematizes this feminization of the male, producing melancholia that endangers the Black Knight's psychic stability and the dominant fiction of…
Parallels between Mary and Constance exist not only in details but also in narrative strategy, since both women are subject to the complexities and contradictions of the exemplary mode. In addition, Constance is presented through metaphors of death,…
In WBT, the first mention of fairies--the Wife's lament for their disappearance--is linked to and introduces the other fairy scenes. The knight's experience demonstrates that even in her first mention of fairies the Wife associates them with…
The Pardoner masks his questionable oral and sexual potency by conspicuously exhibiting his "bulles" and using them to assert power. These documents remain valid despite their dissonance with the spiritual nature of the Pardoner. PardT demonstrates…
Chaucer evinces awareness of marriage law, in particular the necessity of a church ceremony to secure property rights. Wives with a legally unassailable right to property (May in MerT, the Wife of Bath, Alisoun in MilT, Cecilie in SNT) are in a much…
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…
Like the Valiant Woman of Proverbs 31:10-31, Cecilia brings honor to her husband, manages her household well, works untiringly, and faces danger with fearless self-confidence. In contrast to Harry Bailly, who sets up the rules and pragmatic externals…
Close reading of Jerome's "Against Jovinian" indicates that in WBP the Wife of Bath agrees with Jerome, even though she shifts the emphasis from the superiority of virginity to the acceptability of marriage. At Jankyn's death, she becomes, like her…
Currie explores the hypocrisy and factionalism that underlie the characters' ostensible concerns with natural law and the common good in TC, arguing that Chaucer exposes the negative consequences (individual and social) of breaches of natural law.…
Filios compares the folktale of Griselda with four medieval versions, exploring their adaptations. Boccaccio's tale is eroticized, with the teller Dioneo disagreeing with the conventional happy ending that reinforces dangerous power relations;…
Victims of lovesickness, lovers who commit suicide in Chaucer and Gower do so by stabbing themselves in the heart, an action not found in their sources. Nor is there medical precedent for regarding the heart as the central organ of the circulatory…
The widow's poverty in NPT indicates the cloistered clergy's failure to practice humility, poverty, and charity. Altering his source materials, Chaucer highlights the contrast between the lifestyle of the Prioress and that of the widow and creates…
In the fourteenth century, rape was perceived as "natural," a relatively minor social infraction. In WBT, the ladies of the court do not dispute the verdict assigned the rapist-knight; they dispute only the penalty. The knight is socially…
Responding to the growing custom of reading silently, Chaucer focuses on the dilemma that there can be no interpretation without will but that the use of will can lead to prejudiced, subjective interpretations. The birds cannot communicate, but the…
