Jephthah's Daughter and Chaucer's Virginia: The Critique of Sacrifice in The Physician's Tale

Author / Editor
Kline, Daniel T.

Title
Jephthah's Daughter and Chaucer's Virginia: The Critique of Sacrifice in The Physician's Tale

Published
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 107 (2008): 77-103.

Description
Virginius's fatal encounter with his daughter Virginia in PhyT can be seen as an instance of "torture," as Elaine Scarry defines it, the "most extreme" of political situations. In Scarry's terms and from Virginius's perspective,Virginia's existence lacks legitimacy.

Chaucer Subjects
Physician and His Tale