'Epreuves d'amour' and Chaucer's' Franklin's Tale'

Author / Editor
Pearcy, Roy J.

Title
'Epreuves d'amour' and Chaucer's' Franklin's Tale'

Published
Chaucer Review 44 (2009): 159-85.

Description
A study of works featuring the test-of-love motif argues for including FranT among them rather than among narratives employing the motif of the "maiden's rash promise." However, by devising a "test" for Dorigen's suitor that expresses her concern for her husband's safety, Chaucer twists this staple of the courtly love genre, thereby pointing out "that the reconciliation of romantic love and Christian marriage is a fragile fantasy."

Chaucer Subjects
Franklin and His Tale
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations