No Vileyns Word': Social Context and Performance in Chaucer's 'Friar's Tale'

Author / Editor
Leicester, H. Marshall,Jr.

Title
No Vileyns Word': Social Context and Performance in Chaucer's 'Friar's Tale'

Published
Chaucer Review 17 (1982): 21-39.

Description
The description of the Friar, the tone of his remarks and his tale, and the response of the Summoner are couched in ambiguities. These are clarified if we are aware of the implicit context in which he operates: a social hierarchy, based on ecclesiastical hierarchy, assumes that friars are superior to summoners.

Chaucer Subjects
Friar and His Tale.