Language and the Real: Chaucer's Manciple

Author / Editor
Harwood, Britton J.

Title
Language and the Real: Chaucer's Manciple

Published
Chaucer Review 6.4 (1972): 268-79.

Description
Tallies Chaucer's modifications of his sources in ManT, especially the digressions he adds, to show that the "subject of the tale is language." In his tale, the Manciple "sneers at" people who "can be distracted from empirical reality by language," much as he ridicules then distracts the Cook in ManP and manipulates his employers in GP. The Manciple's cynical performance sets the stage for the Parson's earnest use of language.

Chaucer Subjects
Manciple and His Tale
Cook and His Tale
Parson and His Tale
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations
Language and Word Studies