Chaucer's Wycliffite Critique of the Pardoner

Author / Editor
Sugito, Hisashi.

Title
Chaucer's Wycliffite Critique of the Pardoner

Published
Sophia English Studies 32 (2007): 17-31.

Description
Chaucer uses Wycliffite discourse sympathetically in order to "satirize church corruption which the Pardoner represents," particularly the literal understanding of Scripture and allegories. The Pardoner's treatment of Scripture aligns with the views of anti-Wycliffites, such as William Woodword, William Butler, and Thomas Palmer; his vexed sexuality is tied to the "problem of hermeneutics."

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