Transgressive Word and Image in Chaucer's Enshrined 'Coillons' Passage

Author / Editor
Osborn, Marijane.

Title
Transgressive Word and Image in Chaucer's Enshrined 'Coillons' Passage

Published
Chaucer Review 37: 365-84, 2003.

Description
The "coillons" interchange between the Pardoner and the Host at the end of PardT goes much deeper than previously noticed. Echoing a passage from the "Roman de la Rose" found in some manuscripts, the lines evoke a transgressive inversion of the "nut in the shell" imagery.

Chaucer Subjects
Pardoner and His Tale.