Beidler, Peter G.
Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2015.
Describes how Chaucer adapted his source, Heile of Beersele, increasing the "theatricality" of plot and details in making MilT, concentrating on the architectural setting (house and window), dramatic details, and additional "scenes." Surveys and…
Explains that the medieval notion of "curiositas" (illicit pursuit of knowledge) entails concupiscence of the eyes, concupiscence of the flesh, and worldly pride, showing that these vices are a theme that links MilT and RvT, particularly evident in a…
Although the Reeve claims a moral high ground by telling a story that deals out justice to its dishonest miller, this revenge does not accord with the moral virtue of justice nor with the amoral fabliau genre, undermining the Reeve's sanctimony and…
Czarnowus, Anna.
Rafal Boryslawski, Czarnowus, and Lukasz Neubauer, eds. Marvels of Reading: Essays in Honour of Professor Andrzej Wicher (Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Slaskiego, 2015), pp. 103-13.
Assesses representation of the mothers-in-law in MLT and their equivalent in the BBC adaptation, where the mother-in-law is of Iranian origin, but looks on Custance from a highly racist perspective.
Johnson, Eleanor.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 114, no. 4 (2015): 504-25.
Argues that the Man of Law depicts himself as a traditionalist in law. Through his presentation in GP, his conversation with the Host, and his Tale, the Man of Law separates himself from negative views of lawyers in the wake of the 1381 Rising. In…
O'Connell, Brendan.
Medium Aevum 84.1 (2015): 16–39.
Unlike Constance in Trevet and Gower, Custance in MLT does not speak with her would-be rapist; further, she immediately struggles with him and receives divine aid in overcoming him. Asserts that Chaucer's treatment of this scene demonstrates…
Burrow, J. A.
Review of English Studies 66, no. 276 (2015): 624-33.
Considers how Nature brings forces to bear that "incline" Hart to feel and behave the way he does in "King Hart." Argues that Chaucer's Wife of Bath uses the same technical term when she says "I folwed at myn inclinacioun / By vertu of my…
Nakley, Susan.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 114.1 (2015): 61-87
Establishes how WBT's treatment of sovereignty and of civic and domestic institutions "redefine[s] English nobility as a national form of identity" that crosses class and gender boundaries. Further argues that Chaucer's anachronistic use of Dante in…
Parsons, Ben.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 37 (2015): 163–94.
Identifies relations between domestic and pedagogical violence in WBP, establishing that its vocabulary is "redolent of the classroom" and arguing that Jankyn's treatment of Alison grants her agency, albeit unintentionally. Describes the motivations…
Ida, Hideho.
Doshisha Global and Regional Studies Review 4 (2015): 45-65.
Points out lines of ClT not included in either of the Latin and French sources and considers the meanings of these additions by Chaucer. Argues that Walter is characterized as stricter in ClT, and discusses the narrator Clerk's position in relation…
Normandin, Shawn.
Notes and Queries 260 (2015): 218–19.
In rendering Petrarch's explanation for why God tests humans in the form of a disjointed sentence (ClT, 1153-61), Chaucer points out its irrationality. Argues how this ploy resonates with the Clerk's expression of qualms about Petrarch at the…
Rodrıguez Mesa, Francisco Jose.
Elisa Borsari, ed. En lengua vulgar castellana traduzido: Ensayos sobre la actividad traductora durante la Edad Media (San Millan de la Cogolla: Cilengua, 2015), pp. 121–33.
Evaluates Chaucer's strategies of adapting his Italian sources in ClT. He uses three paratexts to adjust the original story to the specific narratological and structural microcosm of CT: ClP, the conclusion explaining what Petrarch meant in…
Suggests Arabic texts not as sources for MerT, but as fellow exemplars of certain similar "universal" archetypes (tree, garden, billet-doux, key). Juxtaposes Arabic tales (some from "The Arabian Nights") with MerT, and organizes stories by tree type…
Zedolik, John.
Studies in Philology 112.3 (2015): 490-503.
Treats control as a thematic device in MerT and in CT at large. January seeks to control May through literal enclosure, but is himself figuratively controlled by May and Damian, becoming a keeper kept. Conversely, the pilgrim narrator of CT…
Argues that SqT is an exception among medieval romances because it investigates things that are not what they seem. The first section of the tale scrutinizes the mechanics of marvels and wonder; the second explores the mechanics of stories,…
Considers why the tale of the Mongol Empire is allocated to the young Squire. Points out the Squire's idealistic representation of the royal family of the Empire and discusses Chaucer's possible attitude toward SqT, taking fourteenth-century…
Gaston, Kara.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 37 (2015): 227-56.
Examines the management of time in the "Aeson episode" of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (Book VII), the Tale of Menedon in Boccaccio's "Filocolo,"and FranT, focusing on Medea's "carmen," Tebano's magic, Dorigen's complaint, and their parallels with poetic…
Argues that the Franklin presents a formula for happiness: living a life of "gentilesse" as opposed to the principle of adhering to a law-based system of morality.
Vial, Claire, ed.
Paris: Presses Universitaires de Paris Ouest, 2015.
literary heritage of Breton lay narratives, with emphasis on FranT. For three essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for A noble tale / Among us shall awake under Alternative Title
Morrison, Stephen.
Claire Vial, ed. "A noble tale / Among us shall awake": Approches croisees des "Middle English Breton Lays" et du "Franklin's Tale" (Paris: Presses Universitaires de Paris Ouest, 2015), pp. 27-34.
Focuses on how playfulness breaks the limits of existential constraint in FranT.
Ruszkiewicz, D.
Claire Vial, ed. "A noble tale / Among us shall awake": Approches croisees des "Middle English Breton Lays" et du "Franklin's Tale" (Paris: Presses Universitaires de Paris Ouest, 2015), pp. 35-44.
Studies shifting perspectives on love, marriage, and honor in FranT and WBT.
