Chaucer's Worldly Monk.

Author / Editor
Oruch, Jack B.

Title
Chaucer's Worldly Monk.

Published
Criticism 8.3 (1966): 280-88.

Description
Distinguishes between the "clerical" and "non-clerical" traditions of "de casibus" tragedy in medieval tradition, observing the emphasis on the goddess Fortuna in the latter, and claiming that MkT "belongs to the non-clerical tradition." In ignoring or rejecting Boethian consolation and not regarding Fortune as God's agent, MkT "advocates a dignified hedonism" (rather than "contemptus mundi"), a view consistent with the "worldly, unbookish Monk" of GP.

Chaucer Subjects
Monk and His Tale
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations