'He Pleyeth Herodes upon a Scaffold Hye'?

Author / Editor
King, Pamela M.

Title
'He Pleyeth Herodes upon a Scaffold Hye'?

Published
Leeds Studies in English 32 (2001): 212-28. Reprinted in Pamela M. King and Alexandra F. Johnston, eds. Reading Texts for Performance and Performances as Texts (London: Routledge, 2020), pp. 102-18.

Description
Explores the possible "theatrical context" of MilT, clarifying the cultural value of Absolon's status as a parish clerk and arguing that Chaucer's plot and treatment of gender in his characterization of Absolon were inspired by "amateur theatricals of the parish clerks at Clerkenwell," which Chaucer observed when he worked on the scaffolds at Smithfield in 1390.

Alternative Title
Reading Texts for Performance and Performances as Texts.

Chaucer Subjects
Miller and His Tale.