A Question of Order in the "Canterbury Tales."

Description: Challenges arguments which assert that the MLE should be followed by ShT in the order of the CT, and argues that, in "light of both external and internal evidence," the Ellesmere order is the best order, with WBPT after MLT, and an emended version of MLE included between them. This arrangement, Cox suggests, best accommodates available manuscript evidence and scribal practice, Chaucer's reassignment of the ShT from Wife of Bath to Shipman, thematic interaction between MLT and WBPT, and the drama of the CT, especially considering the characterization of the Wife of Bath.

Chaucer Subjects: Canterbury Tales--General
Man of Law and His Tale
Wife of Bath and Her Tale
Shipman and His Tale
Manuscripts and Textual Studies