The Wives of the 'Canterbury Tales' and the Tradition of the Valiant Women of Proverbs 31:10-31
- Author / Editor
- Biscoglio, Frances Minetti.
The Wives of the 'Canterbury Tales' and the Tradition of the Valiant Women of Proverbs 31:10-31
- Published
- San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press, 1993.
- Physical Description
- x, 177 pp.
- Description
- A version of the author's 1991 dissertation of the same title; see Dissertation Abstracts International 52 (1991): 1321-22.
- Challenges much feminist criticism by arguing that Chaucer does present powerful women. His view of power derives from a fourteenth-century notion of Christian virtue, based in the scriptural tradition of the "valiant woman" of Proverbs.
- Biscoglio surveys the Judaic and Christian traditions of women strengthened by virtue and assesses Chaucer's depictions of wicked and wise wives in CT. Ironic biblical allusions help to establish the vice, and yet the power of the Wife of Bath and the wives of the fabliaux; in MLT, ClT, Mel, and SNT, women are the central figures, empowered by their virtues of sufferance and eloquence. Despite its differences from modern views, Chaucer's view of feminine power is evident in CT.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Canterbury Tales--General.