Browse Items (16107 total)

Connects the lament in WBP 3.614 with the more familiar proverb "Lechery is no sin," recurrently used by traditional "demonic" figures in early literature. The Wife's use is richer with "complex ironies."

In most of his poems Chaucer exploits the traditional material to create a double view, one inherent in the material and the other produced by his handling of them. He inherited this technique from Jean de Meun; in BD and the "Roman," for example,…

Adduces evidence from various sources to show that the Wife of Bath has characteristics of the archetype of the old bawd, itself rooted in the earlier figure of "sorceress-intermediary" and associated with aging, trade, extravagant dress, and…

Wheel iconography associated with Hugh of Foilloy's treatise, "The Wheel of True and False Religion," may have influenced the plotting of the divided fart in SumT.

An examination of three analogues--"The Marriage of Sir Gawaine," "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell," and Gower's "Tale of Florent"--illuminates Chaucer's handling of Arthurian motifs such as the lady's transformation and the issue of…

Coverchiefs, while sometimes a sign of mourning, are more often read as a devilish device to "blind men's sight," as Robert Mannyng suggests. The Wife's coverchiefs serve as one of numerous signs that "her life...remains in theological disarray."

John Fowles's novel"A Maggot," set in eighteenth-century England, is similar to CT in several ways, from its opening premise to its general structure as a series of "tales" (reconstructions of mysterious events surrounding a death) told by various…

Common law, canon law, and contemporary conduct books indicate certain concepts of marriage and the role of the good wife. The Wife of Bath's "good" (arranged) and "bad" (chosen) marriages contrast the ideal with socioeconomic reality. WBT is a…

If Jankyn and Alison conspired at the death of the Wife's fourth husband, the books from which Jankyn reads possibly contain lessons to murderesses. Her anger and threat of revelation result in his capitulation and flight, leaving her to purvey her…

In later medieval thought, spinning women represent two often contradictory ideas: rebellion against hierarchical order and, paradoxically, Marian obedience. Citing scripture, Chaucer's Wife fuses both viewpoints in WBP. When Lancastrian mores…

Argues that Dante's siren of "Purgatorio" XIX is analogous to the Wife of Bath and the transformation of the loathly lady of WBT, helping to undercut the Wife's views on female sovereignty and ironically "reasserting the medieval Christian idea of…

Critical views of the Wife, though based on the same Chaucerian texts, vary widely--roughly between realistic approaches and those that ignore or deny realism.

In GP, the Wife's "foot-mantel" is not a "skirt," but a set of leggings or riding chaps, pulled up over the feet and legs from the bottom. "Large" refers not to the size of the Wife's hips, but to the loose drapery of the garment. The Wife may be…

A comprehensive annotated bibliography of scholarly and critical discussion of WBPT, subdivided into the following categories: editions and translations (items 1-82), sources and analogues (items 83-206), the "Marriage Group" (items 207-56),…

Comments on the punning and aural effects of Chaucer's use of "quoniam" in WBP 3.608 and cites similar verbal play in RvT 1.3973-76.

Contrasts WBT with its English analogues and assesses the role of rhetorical dilation, which Chaucer derived from Roman and French traditions. The digressions compel readers to engage WBT dialogically.

The interpolated story of Midas's wife evokes Ovidian concern with poetic judgment and suggests Chaucer's perspective on the differing attitudes of the hag and the knight toward love and marriage. Complex Ovidian echoes imply the failure of Midas's…

Considers the date and thematic unity of HF, suggesting that the eagle is crucial to perceiving both of them, with the astrological sign of the eagle ("Aquila") indicating the date and the Eagle's discourse on sound central to the poem's concern with…

Commends the force and clarity of the passage on old age in RvP (1.3887-98), particularly the images of the wine cask and the tongue, the first familiar to Chaucer as a member of a family in the wine business

Close reading of rhythm, rhyme, and syntax discloses the wry control of the opening of GP.

Examines allegorical, typological, eschatological, and pathetic registers and word play in PhyT, showing how Chaucer thematizes violence and cultural forms that would valorize it. Pitcher compares Chaucer-s rendering with that in the "Roman de la…

Shows that the Prioress's portrait is closely related to PrT. She enjoys her own human freedom and is respected in her religious role.

A feminist analysis of the "Marriage Group" reveals that Chaucer draws his characterization of women largely from medieval stereotypes. He is unable to go beyond a Griselda (Virgin Mary) or a Dame Alisoun (Eve) to create a female "both virtuous and…

Relates the marriage theme in MerT to feminism and suggests that January's view of marriage is not defensible in light of medieval Christianity.

Argues that "in Chaucer's poetry women are consistently portrayed as seeking out a niche in the social (or religious) hierarchy which will permit them to serve in the subordinate position St. Paul insists they were intended to fill." Discusses all of…