Chaucer, the Prioress, and the Resurrection of the Body

Description: Surveys Chaucer's attention to the theological issue of bodily resurrection in FrT, SumT, and PardT, set against a survey of orthodox and heterodox positions in the Church Fathers and Dante. Then establishes Chaucer's "conservative" attitude toward the issue in PrT, where the emphasis on the flesh--mutilation, putrefaction, and the "gem-like integrity" of the clergeon--implies that Chaucer's view is more in accord with earlier tradition than with Thomistic emphasis on form rather than substance.

Chaucer Subjects: Prioress and Her Tale; Friar and His Tale; Summoner and His Tale; Pardoner and His Tale