Monastic 'Acedia' and Chaucer's Characterization of Daun Piers

Author / Editor
Berndt, David E.

Title
Monastic 'Acedia' and Chaucer's Characterization of Daun Piers

Published
Studies in Philology 68 (1971): 435-50.

Description
Reconciles an apparent discrepancy between teller and tale in Chaucer's depiction of the Monk, arguing that the worldliness of the GP description, the exchange in MkP, and the concern with fall through Fortune in MkT are unified by the "common, perhaps the most oppressive, monastic vice--'acedia'" which combines restlessness with disobedience, impatience, complaining, and anger.

Chaucer Subjects
Monk and His Tale