Engendering Obligation: Sworn Brotherhood and Love Rivalry in Medieval English Romance
- Author / Editor
- Stretter, Robert.
Engendering Obligation: Sworn Brotherhood and Love Rivalry in Medieval English Romance
- Published
- Albrecht Classen and Marilyn Sandidge, eds. Friendship in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age: Explorations of a Fundamental Ethical Discourse (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2010), pp. 501-24.
- Description
- Stretter comments on various romances and includes discussion of how, in KnT, Palamon and Arcite's mutual love for Emily disrupts their sworn brotherhood, a powerful bond of obligation and friendship. Chaucer alters a long cultural and literary tradition of fidelity between sworn brothers by introducing the element of erotic love. The rupture between Palamon and Arcite may reflect cultural anxiety regarding "trouthe."
- Alternative Title
- Friendship in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age: Explorations of a Fundamental Ethical Discourse.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Knight and His Tale.