The Problem of Free Will in Chaucer's Narratives.
- Author / Editor
- Owen, Charles A., Jr.
The Problem of Free Will in Chaucer's Narratives.
- Published
- Philological Quarterly 46 (1967): 433-56.
- Description
- Explores free will in Mars, KnT, TC, and CT, focusing on the relative balance of astrological determinism and character complexity. The "compulsions of astrology" in Mars are lessened in KnT, replaced by the "searching" for examples of providence in human affairs. In TC the narrator insists on historicity but shows Troilus and Criseyde in decision-making processes that convey their "independence" from cosmic and authorial control. In the drama of CT, "nothing external, neither God nor the poet, compels the characters to will what they do." Instead, "whatever they will has meaning."
- Chaucer Subjects
- Complaint of Mars
Knight and His Tale
Troilus and Criseyde
Canterbury Tales--Genera