Willing Shape-Shifters : The Loathly Lady from Irish Sovranty to Spenser's Duessa

Author / Editor
Carter, Susan Ann.

Title
Willing Shape-Shifters : The Loathly Lady from Irish Sovranty to Spenser's Duessa

Published
Dissertation Abstracts International 62: 1403A, 2001.

Description
Examines loathly ladies in Irish myth, Chaucer (WBT), Gower ("Florent"), Dame Ragnell, Thomas of Erceldoune, and ballads, focusing on two loci--court and forest--and kinds of power. Also examines the political significance of the refiguration of sovereignty as evil in Spenser's Duessa.

Chaucer Subjects
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.