Engendering Pity in the 'Franklin's Tale'

Author / Editor
Riddy, Felicity.

Title
Engendering Pity in the 'Franklin's Tale'

Published
Ruth Evans and Lesley Johnson, eds. Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature: The Wife of Bath and All Her Sect (London and New York: Routledge, 1994), pp. 54-71.

Description
Examines the sexual politics of FranT, arguing that its fundamental ideas of "gentilesse" and "pitee" reflect an aristocratic, masculinist hierarchy. The courtly setting entails this hierarchy, which dominates the tale, but Dorigen's complaint and the closing unanswered question enable readers to dissent against such assumptions about class and gender.

Alternative Title
Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature: The Wife of Bath and All Her Sect.

Chaucer Subjects
Franklin and His Tale.