Sovereignty and Old Wife
- Author / Editor
- Cary, Meredith.
Sovereignty and Old Wife
- Published
- Papers on Language and Literature 5 (1969): 375-88.
- Description
- Compares WBT with its analogues to show that Chaucer's alterations of the plot "redefine such central concepts as 'honor' and 'sovereignty' in feminine terms," consistent with the gender of its teller. By emphasizing moral precept instead of pleasure, the poet reasserts the traditional function of the Irish story more than do analogous English versions.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Wife of Bath and Her Tale
- Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations