Chaucer and Clothing : Clerical and Academic Costume in the General Prologue to "The Canterbury Tales"

Description: Assesses the details and implications of the clothing and accoutrements of the clerical and academic pilgrims in GP, discussing the Prioress, Monk, Friar, Clerk, Physician, Parson, Pardoner, and Summoner. More richly symbolic than secular dress, clerical dress must be understood in terms of social and literary values developed over time and exploited by Chaucer.; Hodges introduces historical, linguistic, sartorial, and literary contexts as backgrounds to the descriptions. She examines each detail of the descriptions (and illustrations surviving in the manuscripts) to explain how "costume rhetoric" is fundamental to Chaucer's creation of character in GP.

Chaucer Subjects: General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.; Prioress and Her Tale.; Monk and His Tale.; Friar and His Tale.; Clerk and His Tale.; Physician and His Tale.; Parson and His Tale.; Pardoner and His Tale.; Summoner and His Tale.