Although Chaucer does not satirize the three estates in CT (there is no high nobility; clerical offenders do not reflect on the church; the peasantry does not speak), he does attack the middle class and its values through the Wife of Bath, who…
Certain ribald but spurious lines added to the pear-tree episode and printed by Caxton in 1478 helped to shape readers' attitudes toward Chaucer for three centuries, until Tyrwhitt removed them in 1775. The lines are probably the work of a scribe…
Suggests that the source for Nero's fishing nets of golden thread and for the cutting of both Seneca's arms as he lies in the bathtub come from the unedited "Alphabetum narrationum," ca. 1308.
The "whit thyng" the miller's wife sees in the dark bedroom is not the clerk's nightcap. Instead, the term is taken from medieval philosophy, wherein objects are first judged by color. On closer inspection, they become human and take form. The…
Although often glossed erroneously as "hypocritical," the word "spiced," as applied to the Parson's conscience, indicates an individual whose soul is touched suddenly and profoundly by religion, "as spices might do the palate."
Although PhyT and PardT may seem to bear little relationship to each other, a thematic unity rooted in the "Roman de la Rose" links the two tales. Raison's exemplum contains ideas and images of sexual violence and natural generation that Chaucer…
MkT makes a political statement reflecting Richard II's tyrannous activities during the altter years of his reign. The stories of misgovernment suggest a late date of composition for the work. The character of the Monk is based on Nimrod, himself…
Fehrenbacher, Richard W.
Chaucer Review 29 (1994): 134-48.
With the introduction of "Jakke Straw" into NPT, Chaucer returns to the English setting of the early Canterbury stories. By alternating styles in the peasant passages and the chicken passages, he both addresses the historical turmoil of the day and,…
The Wife's changing of the name Sulipucious Gallus to Symplicius Gallus (3.643) allows her to poke fun at one of her antifeminist "authorities" as well as to link this man to another antifeminist "gallus," the cock in NPT. She indicates that a man…
Woods, William F.
Chaucer Review 29 (1994): 166-78.
In MilT, the house and the space around it symbolize both the tale itself and the principal characters. The top floor represents the "heavenly" sphere where the flood is predicted and awaited; the middle, or "earthly," level is Alison's bedroom; and…
Although WBP and WBT seem more disparate than similar, they are not. The pairing of the two allows Alison to make a statement about how to love well and how to be happy.
Johnson, James D.
Chaucer Review 29 (1994): 194-203.
An annotated list of thirty-seven items, intended as an update of Caroline Spurgeon's "Five Hundred Years of Chaucer Criticism and Allusion, 1357-1900."
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…
Daileader, Celia R.
Chaucer Review 29 (1994): 26-39.
WBT and Mel contain comparable female characters who use discourse to challenge the antifeminist patristic tradition. The plot in both tales--the transformation of a misguided male by a knowledgeable woman--points to a more "peaceful" world where…
The references to chess in BD are confused because Chaucer seems not to have had any firsthand knowledge of the game, his source being not a proper handbook but the "Roman de la Rose." Applying the chess metaphor from Jean de Meun to a dissimilar…
Andreas, James R.
Chaucer Review 29 (1994): 45-64.
Drawing from Geoffrey of Vinsauf and Mikhail Bakhtin on the "rhetoric of the utterance," Andreas stresses the importance of Chaucer's links between tales in the development of characters, authors, audience, and still more stories. The links exist in…
PrT expresses the notion of spiritual or "white" martyrdom popular in the Middle Ages. Unlike physical martyrdom, white martyrdom was a mental act, often involving the preservation of virginity. Through the character of the little boy, the Prioress…
Ireland, Richard W.
Chaucer Review 29 (1994): 74-92.
Chaucer's use of poison in PardT and ParsT indicates more than a cursory knowledge of the law and lore associated with it. In PardT, poison--affiliated with Envy and Jealousy and with the devil--serves to darken both the characters and the plot line.…
Catalogues thirty-one previously unlisted references to Troilus, Criseyde, and Pandaras published 1475-1640. Part of a work in progress: an updating of the "Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed ... 1475-1640" and of Caroline Spurgeon's "Five…
Narin van Court, Elisa.
Chaucer Review 29 (1995): 227-48.
"The Siege of Jerusalem" is not simply another anti-Semitic text but instead one that responds humanely to the Jewish plight. Evidence indicates that this poem was written by an Augustinian canon at Bolton Priory, were there was regard for the…
BD should be given Chaucer's own title (LGW 418): "The Death of Blanche." Chaucer's title is more fitting for a poem of anti-consolation that emphasizes "death's power over the loveliest visions of youth and happiness."
The two distinct "social spaces" within the poem--the city of Troy and the Greek camp--represent the varying attitudes of the characters inhabiting them, particularly their attitudes concerning women. When Criseyde is given over to Diomede, however,…
Hodges, Laura F.
Chaucer Review 29 (1995): 274-302.
The multilayered details of the Knight's clothing represent both a realistic and a symbolic knight, whose profession of chivalry in the fourteenth century was far from ideal.
