PardT has been classified as anti-marchen because its unhappy ending violates the marchen's typical "weightlessness," but given the negative nature of the hero, PardT does follow the normal marchen pattern. "Anti-marchen" should be redefined.
Gillmeister, Heiner.
Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic Literary Studies 29-30 (1988): 58-79.
Compares Chaucer's PardT with contemporary sermons by Honorius de Augustoduno and Giles of Rome using the theme of "radix malorum est cupiditas." Despite similarities among the three, only Chaucer's exemplum contains highly sophisticated linguistic…
DeNeef, A. Leigh.
Journal of Narrative Technique 3 (1973): 85-96.
Shows that confusion of literal and metaphoric understanding characterizes the Pardoner, the rioters of PardT, and the pilgrim audience (including the Host), who fail to "separate the immorality" of the Pardoner from the morality of his exemplum. The…
Snell, William.
Studies in Medieval English Language and Literature 10 (1995): 1-16.
Assesses PardT in light of contemporary literature about pestilence, arguing that Chaucer both distances PardT from his audience and critiques Flemings.
Delasanta, Rodney K., and Constance M. Rousseau.
Chaucer Review 30 (1996): 319-42.
Chaucer's translation of this work, alluded to by Alceste in "Legend of Good Women" (G 404-18), has since been lost. Authors use MS Corpus Christi 137 as a basis for their work.
The statement that the fox "thurghout the hegges brast" into the barnyard, which does not accord with the earlier description of the yard as surrounded by a fence and a dry ditch, is perhaps best accounted for as a narrational paraphrase of the name…
Adams, Robert.
Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 77 (1995): 9-18.
Questions whether PrT is an exercise in dramatic irony in which the Prioress's anti-Semitism is exposed to ridicule. The mother in PrT is called "this newe Rachel," but Rachel was a Jewish mother lamenting the massacre of Jewish babies by a Gentil…
Middleton, Anne.
Edward W. Said, ed. Literature and Society. Selected Papers from the English Institute. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1980), pp. 15-56.
Chaucer's pilgrims agree that "the pleasure and the use of literature are one thing," that the utility of literature lies not only in the kernel of its theme but in the felicities of its style and the pleasure of its audience as well. In this view,…
Nimrod ("Nembrot") is the only biblical figure in "The Former Age." The detail that he designed the Tower of Babel is traditional, but Chaucer's reference in this poem seems to be derived directly from Walafrid Strabo's "Glossa Ordinaria."
Peavler, James Martin.
DAI 32.06 (1971): 3264-65A.
Distinguishes between "natural" astronomy and "judicial" astronomy, gauges astronomical knowledge in Chaucer's age, describes Chaucer's uses of astrology, and considers effeorts to date Chaucer's works by astronomical references.
Elaborates on the distinction between "natura naturans" and "natura naturata" in relation to their Greek, Latin, and Germanic etymology, and examines uses of the words "nature" and "kynde" in BD, HF, PF, and Rom to show the tendency of each word's…
Cowgill, Bruce Kent.
Mediaevalia 8 (1985 for 1982): 151-69.
Mel, MkT, and NPT are related by their concern with spiritual perception or its lack: Mel deals with the failure to listen to Prudence and the return of Sophia; MkT shows "the consequence of sacrificing both prudence and sapientia"; NPT reasserts the…
Bestul, Thomas H.
Ian Lancashire, ed. Computer-Based Chaucer Studies (Toronto: Centre for Computing in the Humanities, University of Toronto, 1993), pp. 177-87
Describes formats of existing compendia of Chaucer's sources and analogues, emphasizing their limitations. Uses MkT materials to exemplify potential advantages of a hypertext source-and-analogue compilation for Chaucer's corpus.
Haas interprets MkT as Chaucer's critical testing of tragedy (one of the most problematic pagan genres being revived) and thus his evaluation of the most progressive endeavors of his age, voiced with the greatest impact by "maister Petrak."
Taylor, Estelle W.
College Language Association Journal 13 (1969): 172-82.
Considers the fittingness of the MkT to its teller, commenting on genre (advice to princes and tragedy), themes (fortune and the uncertainties of life), variety and unity, the GP description of the Monk, and the responses of the Knight and the Host…
Proposes that "upon the viritoot," often glossed as "to be astir," actually means "fairy toot," a common topological expression from England. This second meaning suggests that Gervase the smith, speculating on why the angry Absolon has appeared to…
Argues that Boccaccio's "Decameron" influenced MerT deeply, even though it may not be the primary source of the plot. The characterizations of MerT (especially the "mental blindness" of January) are more like those in "Decameron" 7.9 than those in…
Encourages separation of teller and tale in interpreting CT, reading MerT in light of its sources but not MerP. The narrator of the Tale identifies more with Justinus than with January and shows "a measure of sympathy" for May. In this way the Tale…
Interprets the pear and enclosed garden of MerT by the Christian iconography of a medieval painting of Saint Barbara in an enclosed garden. Lloyd finds both January and May choosing the garden of pleasure over the love of Christ or of Mary.
Haahr, Joan G.
Helen R. Lemay, ed. Homo Carnalis: The Carnal Aspect of Medieval Human Life. Acta 14 (1990, for 1987): 105-20.
The Wife of Bath (the female counterpart of the "senex amans") stands in opposition to the Husband-Merchant in MerT. They are "mercantile figures of similar status and class," the Wife involved in production, the Merchant in export. Each sees sex…
MacDonald, Alasdair A.
Chaucer Review 22 (1988): 246-49.
John C. Hirsh's proposed emendation of "wo man" to "woman" in MLT 847 is probably unwarranted. Consideration of manuscript evidence, as well as syntax and cultural context, render Hirsh's reading implausible.
"Thy wo and any wo man may sustene" is always printed thus, perhaps because the Ellesmere MS has a virgule between "wo" and "man." Hengwrt does not include a virgule, and a persuasive case can be made for printing "Thy wo, and any woman may…
A. A. MacDonald's objection to reading "woman" for "wo man" in line 847 of MLT is a misunderstanding of a more fundamental problem--that traditional attitudes toward gender may have played a part in separating two letters in a context wherein certain…
