Acquiteth Yow Now: Textual Contradiction and Legal Discourse in the Man of Law's Introduction

Author / Editor
Nolan, Maura.

Title
Acquiteth Yow Now: Textual Contradiction and Legal Discourse in the Man of Law's Introduction

Published
Emily Steiner and Candace Barrington, eds. The Letter of the Law: Legal Practice and Literary Production in Medieval England (New York: Cornell University Press, 2002), pp. 136.53

Description
MLP "stages a confrontation" between the legal and the poetic that reveals the "degree of Chaucer's investment in the latter as well as his need for the former." The textual uncertainties of MLE and the Host's appropriation of legal language reflect Chaucer's ambiguous fusion of legal and poetic concerns, as well as his anxieties about the discursive power of the law.

Alternative Title
The Letter of the Law: Legal Practice and Literary Production in Medieval England.

Chaucer Subjects
Man of Law and His Tale.