A Reconsideration of the Cask Figure in the 'Reeve's Prologue'

Author / Editor
Heffernan, Carol Falvo.

Title
A Reconsideration of the Cask Figure in the 'Reeve's Prologue'

Published
Chaucer Review 15 (1980): 37-43.

Description
The cask figure combines religious and sexual symbols in the reference to wine and baptism and to the phallic spout. These connect to the tale with the fear of impotence and the careless oaths, suggesting that the Reeve misses the hidden religious solution to old age in his own words.

Chaucer Subjects
Reeve and His Tale.