'[W]ordy vnthur wede': Clothing, Nakedness and the Erotic in Some Romances of Medieval Britain

Author / Editor
Hopkins, Amanda.

Title
'[W]ordy vnthur wede': Clothing, Nakedness and the Erotic in Some Romances of Medieval Britain

Published
Amanda Hopkins and Cory James Rushton, eds. The Erotic in the Literature of Medieval Britain (Rochester, N.Y.; and Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2007), pp. 53-70.

Description
Hopkins explores depictions of sexual frisson, or arousal, in a variety of Middle English romances, focusing on the presentation of clothing, nudity, and partial nudity. She surveys examples in which female ugliness is represented almost as often as beauty, works in which partial beauty "can be more erotic than complete nakedness," and depictions of male and female erotic potential. In TC, Chaucer focuses on male pleasure. He explores female pleasure in WBPT.

Alternative Title
The Erotic in the Literature of Medieval Britain.

Chaucer Subjects
Troilus and Criseyde
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.