The Green Yeoman as Loathly Lady: The Friar's Parody of the Wife of Bath's Tale

Author / Editor
Szittya, Penn R.

Title
The Green Yeoman as Loathly Lady: The Friar's Parody of the Wife of Bath's Tale

Published
PMLA 90 (1975): 386-94.

Description
Verbal echoes and character parallels such as the Wife's hag and the Friar's yeoman/fiend indicate that the Friar's purpose is parody. He uses his theme of moral "maistrie" to debunk the Wife's marital "maistrie." His view of human nature is cynical and pessimistic; hers is wishful and romantic.

Chaucer Subjects
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.
Friar and His Tale.