Chaucer's Dialectic : How the Establishment Theology Is Subjected to Scrutiny in Five Canterbury Tales

Author / Editor
Tovey, Barbara.

Title
Chaucer's Dialectic : How the Establishment Theology Is Subjected to Scrutiny in Five Canterbury Tales

Published
Interpretation 31 (2004): 235-99.

Description
ManT reflects Chaucer's awareness of the dangers of challenging authority, yet he repeatedly challenges Christian and Boethian orthodoxies concerning evil. KnT does not reconcile the existence of evil, and the orthodoxy of Christian Providence in MLT is "exceedingly crude and naive," immediately rejected through the Wife of Bath's assertion of experience. ClT raises again the question of why evil exists, and in FranT human agency is sufficient to maintain truth. Tovey also discusses belief and skepticism in the opening lines of LGWP.

Chaucer Subjects
Canterbury Tales--General.
Knight and His Tale.
Man of Law and His Tale.
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.
Clerk and His Tale.
Franklin and His Tale.
Legend of Good Women.