The Function of Pity in Three Canterbury Tales

Author / Editor
Harding, Wendy.

Title
The Function of Pity in Three Canterbury Tales

Published
Chaucer Review 32 (1997): 162-74.

Description
Chaucerian pathos derives from the rigidity of fourteenth-century social hierarchies. In KnT, pity brings the ruler and ruled closer together; ClT advocates Christ-like endurance and humility for the weak and God-like justice and mercy for the powerful. In ParsT, power and weakness, glory and humiliation are united in one paradoxical form.

Chaucer Subjects
Knight and His Tale.
Clerk and His Tale.
Parson and His Tale.