Clifford, Robert.
Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 81.1: 155-65, 1999.
Examines Chaucer's use of the dream-vision genre and authoritative texts and suggests that the author "deconstructs any sense of textual authority." The process of granting fame in HF parallels the random process of readers granting authority.
Pérez Fernández, Tamara, and Ana Sáez Hidalgo.
SELIM 14 (2007): 197-220.
Analyzes the unique marginal annotations in the Harley 2392 version of TC, exploring the role played by the scribe of the manuscript. The marginalia seem to hint at something beyond the task of a copyist, since they entail interpretation of what…
Bale, Anthony.
Helen Phillips, ed. Chaucer and Religion (Cambridge: Brewer, 2010), pp. 52-64.
Discusses "non-Christian religion" represented in the CT and examines what it means to be a Jew in PrT or a Muslim in MLT. Argues that Chaucer's understanding of Judaism in PrT and Islam in MLT reveals the "ironies of self-identity and the patterns…
Weisl, Angela Jane.
Tison Pugh and Marcia Smith Marzec, eds. Men and Masculinities in Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde" (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2008), pp. 115-31.
Criseyde shows more of a "mannes herte" than does Troilus in the consummation scene of TC. Throughout the poem, she chooses masculine, active self-interest rather than feminine, passive submission. In characterizing Criseyde, TC explores and…
ClT and MLT dramatize contemporary uncertainties concerning the extent of a mother's genetic "influence" on her offspring, even as they critique the "fantasy of an autonomous male line." Given that disputes regarding monarchal succession formed the…
Lyall, Roderick J.
Studies in Scottish Literature 26 (1991): 1-18.
A historical survey of Scottish literary canons reveals three distinct systems of canonicity. Of particular interest is the effect of Chaucer on the canonicity of the New Chaucerians.
Argues that Chaucer and several rhetoricians deliberately construct verbal portraits of the female body and feminize language to engage readers in the pursuit of textual pleasure; this engagement is predicated on a particular way of looking at,…
Though the antipoetic and devoutly Christian voices of ParsT and Ret conclude CT, Chaucer assumes three voices in GP: a "clerkly" and rhetorically trained voice for the opening, Chaucer the Pilgrim's voice reporting on the group, and Harry Bailly's…
Walsh, Brian.
Religion and Literature 45.3 (2013): 81-113.
Takes an in-depth look at the influence of John Gower's "Confessio Amantis" on Shakespeare's "Pericles," focusing on cultural spirituality and the portrayal of death. Briefly contrasts the editorial process through which Chaucer's works evolved with…
Woods, William F.
Chaucer Review 24 (1989): 139-49.
The social background of ShT offers a rationale for the actions of the characters, especially of the wife. Her struggle to achieve parity in her mercantile marriage transforms her into a reflection of her husband. The monk, who is a "competing…
Assesses the Prioress in light of "A Revelation of Purgatory by an Unknown, Fifteenth-Century Woman Visionary" (1422), arguing that the later work provides evidence that Chaucer's character would have been found "culpable" for her worldliness.
Resemblances between Aelfric's and Chaucer's versions of the St. Cecilia legend suggest a common Latin source, possibly Mombritius' "Passio." But Chaucer's treatment, different from Aelfric's especially in dealing with the crowns of flowers, is more…
ClT reflects aspects of Richard II's life and philosophy of kingship--and perhaps Chaucer's fanciful solutions to Richard II's political dilemma of an heirless realm: divorce or a consort advisor. The insistence on "obedience to authority" in ClT…
Gates, Barbara T.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 77 (1976): 369-75.
The references to the licentious god Pluto and the rich and lecherous Solomon that Proserpina talks of contribute to the notion of covetousness in MerT. The language of trade, commercial values, and the references to Solomon's prosperity in commerce…
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…
Lee, Anne Thompson.
Chaucer Review 19 (1984): 169-78.
Most critical opinion has followed Kittredge's 1912 evaluation of FranT as Chaucer's treatment of ideal marriage. FranT is actually about what it is like to be married, and its center is Dorigen, Chaucer's unique portrayal of a genuinely good,…
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,…
Gellert, Anamaria.
Textus: English Studies in Italy 22.3 (2009): 573-98.
Examines the Ellesmere illustration of the Prioress and early woodcut representations (Caxton, de Worde, and Pynson) of her and of the gathering of the pilgrims, arguing that the Prioress is represented as a courtly lady in Caxton's group portrait…
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…
Leland, Virgina E.,with John L. leland.
Michigan Academician 14 (1981): 71-79.
Chaucer's work as commissioner in the marshes between Greenwich and Woolwich may have suggested images for RvT. Fellow commissioners may have influenced GP portraits.
Lipton, Emma.
Dissertation Abstracts International 60 (1999): 123A.
Influenced by literature, the meaning of marriage changed radically in late-medieval England. Replacing the celebration of celibacy as reflecting union with Christ, earthly marriage validated itself in bourgeois ideology, as shown by FranT, Gower,…
Language, money, and gender are "signifying systems" that underlie notions of law and order in medieval tradition. Cady examines how Chaucer presents the interactions of these systems in WBPT, MerT, and PardT.
