'The Physician's Tale' and Jephtha's Daughter

Author / Editor
Crafton, John Micheal.

Title
'The Physician's Tale' and Jephtha's Daughter

Published
ANQ 20.1 (2007): 8-13.

Description
Middle English sermons and manuals of vices and virtues indicate that Chaucer's audience would have understood Jephtha's daughter as a figure of a loose woman. Through allusion to her, Chaucer creates a painfully ironic moment that characterizes Virginius as a false or foolish judge and Virginia as a victim of lust, corruption, and stupidity.

Chaucer Subjects
Physician and His Tale