Browse Items (16472 total)

Examines how Chaucer manipulates the conventions of the "descriptio" in TC, arguing that he capitalizes on its metaliterary potential. Chaucer gives texture to the descriptio of Criseyde by spreading it throughout several portions of the narrative.…

Nelson assesses medieval conceptions of marital "debt" (reflected in ParsT) in light of modern Speech Act Theory (Austin and Searle). The Wife of Bath's focus on the husband's contribution and the Merchant's focus on the wife's contribution reveal…

Discusses four sexual puns in WBPT: on purse/chest, candle-lighting, flour and grinding, and "borel" or coarse cloth.

Reads the tone and details of PrT as consistent with the characterization of the Prioress established in GP. A "ful" large woman fixated on immaturity and smallness, the Prioress admires motherhood and empathizes with the innocence of the clergeon,…

Compares WBT with its analogues to show that Chaucer's alterations of the plot "redefine such central concepts as 'honor' and 'sovereignty' in feminine terms," consistent with the gender of its teller. By emphasizing moral precept instead of…

Explicates the "Gerveys scene" of MilT, focusing in particular on the meaning of "viritoot," the implications of "seinte Note," the demonic and infernal associations of blacksmithing, and Absolon's transformation of character from lover to wrathful.

Identifies the "sharp incongruity" between the Wife of Bath's remarks on her initial encounter with Jankyn (WBP 3.543ff.) and Lenten sermons and traditions, sharpened by the irony of the Wife's two references to the Lenten season.

Traces the imagery and diction of hunting, snaring, imprisoning, and entrapment in TC and KnT, showing how it informs the concern with destiny, freedom, and interpersonal manipulation in the poems.

Summarizes the Scriptural tradition in which spiritual fame is associated with sweet tastes and good odors, and suggests that Absolon's association with their opposites in MilT reinforces his humiliation and his concern with "fame among men."

Argues that the obtuse narrator's misreading of the Ovidian story of Ceyx and Alcyone in BD misleads him and underlies the poem's general encouragement that people must accept misfortune. The narrator within the dream is not obtuse, but he does not…

Suggests that the liturgy for the Lenten holiday of Refreshment Sunday underlies the Wife of Bath's two references to refreshment (WBP 3.37-38 and 3.143-46) and the juxtaposition of the seconmd one with her reference to the parable of the loaves and…

Characterizes the Wife of Bath as "an ecclesiastical camp follower" who tellingly misuses her familiarity with Scripture and liturgy, exemplifying this tendency through her blasphemous use of the term "quoniam," which is the "opening word of the…

Observes structural and thematic parallels between ClT and its Envoy, arguing that both refute the Wife of Bath's attitudes, one through alternative perspective and the other through mockery.

Explores the figural implications of cow/ox imagery in "Truth," punningly evident in "Vache" and in references to beasts and stalls.

Commentary on "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell" that emphasizes partnership in marriage. Occasional references to WBT.

Considers strategies that have been used to accuse and excuse Chaucer (and others) of prejudice against women, homosexuals, and Jews, suggesting that medieval language theory and Chaucer's awareness of the semiotic gap between sign and signified…

Argues that Dorigen of FranT is educable and capable of philosophical speculation but, as a woman limited by her culture, "she is unable to reason out ethical choices for herself." Through Dorigen (and other female characters), Chaucer criticizes the…

Considers theories that Alison conspired with Jankyn to murder her fourth husband, assessing matters of criminal intent and liability, and exploring ways that WBP situates the reader as a victim of the Wife's special pleading.

In PF Chaucer deconstructs antifeminist courtly conventions and appropriates power for women. The poem challenges the views of woman promulgated by courtly love by alluding to contemporary political events (marriage of Anne of Bohemia) and by…

The Friar's name alludes to St. Hubert, patron saint of hunters. Thiel investigates Chaucer's knowledge of the saint and invites comparison with St. Thomas.

Chaucer's comments on language show him to be particularly sensitive to all aspects of English, which had become fully accepted as a literary language. Along with other Middle English writers like the "Gawain"-poet and Langland, he manipulates…

The Pardoner obsessively flaunts his unwholesome nature, manifesting hypnotic control and power. His picture of the Old Man, and his subsequent affronting of the Host augment his disturbing self-characterization and lead the pilgrims and author to…

Though we cannot recover the facts of Chaucer's versification,his lines in CT are basically iambic pentameter. Of the first hundred lines of GP in the Ellesmere MS., eighty may be so scanned with little difficulty.

"Pearl" is a divine comedy which views earthly matters from above with tolerance. In KnT Chaucer eliminates the flight to the heavens found in "Teseida"; the perspective of Theseus is earthly but still tolerant. In TC, by contrast, Troilus' ascent…

Discusses meter, rhythm, and textual problems in Chaucer's iambic pentameter, analyzing them using text-analysis computer applications: Oxford Concordance Program and WordSmith Tools. Texts of GP and WBP from the Hengwrt manuscript are transcribed…