The Art of Chaucer: "Pathedy."

Author / Editor
Nist, John.

Title
The Art of Chaucer: "Pathedy."

Published
Tennessee Studies in Literature 11 (1966): 1-10.

Description
Coins the term "pathedy" to describe Chaucer's "serene middle ground" between tragedy and comedy, applying the term to the "quality of love" that characterizes Troilus in TC and to the tragicomic contradictions and essential humanity of several of the Canterbury pilgrims—the Wife of Bath, the Pardoner, the Prioress, and more. In his art, Chaucer balances pathos and ridicule.

Chaucer Subjects
Troilus and Criseyde
Canterbury Tales--General
Wife of Bath and Her Tale
Pardoner and His Tale
Prioress and Her Tale