'Unspun' Heroes: Iconography of the Spinning Woman in the Middle Ages

Author / Editor
Biscoglio, Frances.

Title
'Unspun' Heroes: Iconography of the Spinning Woman in the Middle Ages

Published
Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 25 (1995): 163-77.

Description
While the iconography of the spinning woman is generally considered to represent domestic virtue, it can also demonstrate either a model of misaligned femininity, as exemplified by Cenobia in MkT (7.2373-74), or an instance of role reversal--a mark of opprobrium within the male domain--as evidenced by Absolon in MilT (1.3774-75).

Chaucer Subjects
Monk and His Tale.
Miller and His Tale.