Bodies that Matter in the Court of Late Medieval England and in Chaucer's 'Miller's Tale'

Author / Editor
Lomperis, Linda.

Title
Bodies that Matter in the Court of Late Medieval England and in Chaucer's 'Miller's Tale'

Published
Romanic Review 86 (1995): 243-64.

Description
In MilT, identity is a matter of theatrical impersonation, encouraging the audience to recognize that Alisoun is depicted as a man playing a woman.
This cross-gendering capitalizes on contemporary fashion and homosexuality in the court of Richard II to suggest that Nicholas and Alisoun engage in homosexual relations and that Absolon recognizes Alisoun's true gender at the moment of the misdirected kiss.
Through MilT, Chaucer critiques the self-fashioning nature of Richard's court.

Chaucer Subjects
Miller and His Tale.