Virginity and Sacrifice in Chaucer's 'Physician's Tale'

Author / Editor
Prior, Sandra Pierson.

Title
Virginity and Sacrifice in Chaucer's 'Physician's Tale'

Published
Cindy L. Carlson and Angela Jane Weisl, eds. Constructions of Widowhood and Virginity in the Middle Ages (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), pp. 165-80.

Description
PhyT combines several conflicting ideas of virginity: its role in confronting the "ritualized violence of sacrifice," its emphasis on "bodily wholeness," and its "figuration of innocence and purity." In comparison with its sources, PhyT emphasizes sacrifice and points up the violence inherent in it.

Alternative Title
Constructions of Widowhood and Virginity in the Middle Ages.

Chaucer Subjects
Physician and His Tale.
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.