Absolute Tragedy: Allusions and Avoidances

Author / Editor
Morse, Ruth.

Title
Absolute Tragedy: Allusions and Avoidances

Published
PoeticaT 38: 1-17, 1993.

Description
Contemplates the possible range of meanings of tragedy for Chaucer, observing how consistently he associates it with misunderstanding and how he alludes to or invokes Boethius to defer explanation or certainty. Christian notions of grace disallow "Absolute Tragedy," and Chaucer explores the comic potential of tragic misunderstanding. Discusses TC, For, KnT, MkT, FranT, and NPT.

Chaucer Subjects
Troilus and Criseyde.
Fortune.
Knight and His Tale.
Monk and His Tale.
Franklin and His Tale.
Nun's Priest and His Tale.