Unruly Bodies and Ruling Practices: Chaucer's 'Physician's Tale' as Socially Symbolic Act

Author / Editor
Lomperis, Linda.

Title
Unruly Bodies and Ruling Practices: Chaucer's 'Physician's Tale' as Socially Symbolic Act

Published
Linda Lomperis and Sarah Stanbury, eds. Feminist Approaches to the Body in Medieval Literature (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), pp. 21-37.

Description
A historical examination of female sexual autonomy and medieval physicians' social and academic roles illuminates PhyT.
The Physician's focus on Virginia's spirituality rather than on her physical beauty reveals a male-dominated power struggle over a woman. PhyT is "both a complex embodiment of and a politically charged commentary on various social forces in its late medieval British environment."

Alternative Title
Feminist Approaches to the Body in Medieval Literature.

Chaucer Subjects
Physician and His Tale.