'Biheste is dette': Marriage Promises in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
- Author / Editor
- Nelson, Marie.
'Biheste is dette': Marriage Promises in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
- Published
- Papers on Language and Literature 38: 167-99, 2002.
- Description
- Nelson assesses medieval conceptions of marital "debt" (reflected in ParsT) in light of modern Speech Act Theory (Austin and Searle). The Wife of Bath's focus on the husband's contribution and the Merchant's focus on the wife's contribution reveal misunderstandings of the concept. Similarly distorted are Dorigen's obligation in FranT, Valerian's conditioned promise in SNT, and the extremes of promise and commitment in ClT. Much of CT is concerned with promise and obligation.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Canterbury Tales--General.