Reading Chaucer Reading Rape

Author / Editor
Rose, Christine M.

Title
Reading Chaucer Reading Rape

Published
Elizabeth Robertson and Christine M. Rose, eds. Representing Rape in Medieval and Early Modern Literature (New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001), pp. 21-60.

Description
Rose surveys instances of rape or threatened rape in Chaucer's works, arguing that, though Chaucer presents rape as a trope that enfigures reader response or male competition, we must recognize and confront its literal value, accepting it both in game and in earnest. Rape in Chaucer is "astonishingly prevalent and varied."

Alternative Title
Representing Rape in Medieval and Early Modern Literature.

Chaucer Subjects
Background and General Criticism.