Future Tears and Present Laughter: Warnings of Doom in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Author / Editor
Greenwood, M[aria] K.

Title
Future Tears and Present Laughter: Warnings of Doom in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Published
Wendy Harding and A. Mathieu, eds. Le futur dans le Moyen Âge anglais (Paris: Publications de l'Association des Médiévistes Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur, 1999), 1: pp. 153-74

Description
Examines structural and thematic functions of Chauntecleer's dream exempla in NPT. The exempla all suggest "an unresolved sense of guilt" that casts into tragic relief the events in the barnyard, transforming NPT from comedy to tragedy. The Tale reveals the "evil malignity that lies at the bottom of human hearts."

Contributor
Harding, Wendy, ed.
Mathiew, A., ed.

Alternative Title
Le futur dans le Moyen Âge anglais.

Chaucer Subjects
Nun's Priest and His Tale.