Of Mice and Women: Thoughts on Chaucerian Allusion

Author / Editor
Brown, Emerson,Jr.

Title
Of Mice and Women: Thoughts on Chaucerian Allusion

Published
Leigh A. Arrathoon, ed. Chaucer and the Craft of Fiction (Rochester, Mich.: Solaris Press, 1986), pp. 63-84.

Description
The Merchant's comparison of May to "Queene Ester" (MerT 1744) indicates the terror, treachery, and hatred that lie beneath a demure exterior; the Prioress's response to trapped mice (PrT 144-45), which figure Christ ensnaring the devil, reveals a misdirected sentimentality.

Alternative Title
Chaucer and the Craft of Fiction.

Chaucer Subjects
Merchant and His Tale.
Prioress and Her Tale.