Geoffrey Chaucer: Feminist Readings

Description: Chaucer defines "woman" as the norm against which all human behavior is to be measured, representing women in ways that undermine traditional antifeminist categories. In HF, TC, and LGW, the antifeminist theme of betrayal is recast to reflect human vicissitudes and the necessity of pity. The overt use of antifeminist authorities in MerT and WBP acknowledges their existence and confronts them.; The struggle for "maistrye" in WBT reflects the vision of egalitarian courtship in TC and of egalitarian marriage in FranT and Mel. Female suffering mirrors transcendant suffering in MLT and ClT, while the heroes in TC and KnT are "feminised" in the process of idealization. NPT epitomizes how Chaucer's fabliaux comically undermine the "rituals through which male and female roles are constructed."

Chaucer Subjects: Background and General Criticism; Canterbury Tales--General; House of Fame; Troilus and Criseyde; Legend of Good Women