John Gower's Shaping of "The Tale of Constance" as an "Exemplum contra" of Envy

Author / Editor
Jamison, Carol.

Title
John Gower's Shaping of "The Tale of Constance" as an "Exemplum contra" of Envy

Published
Richard G. Newhauser and Susan J. Ridyard, eds. Sin in Medieval and Early Modern Culture: The Tradition of the Seven Deadly Sins (Woodbridge: The University of York/York Medieval Press, 2012), pp. 239-59.

Description
Uses MLT and Trevet's version of the Constance story to show how Gower "infused" his Constance story in the "Confessio Amantis" with "pastoral rhetoric in order to transform Constance into a representative of Charity" and thereby offer an "'exemplum in bono' that presents Charity as remedy to Envy." Treats MLT as a "secular saint's legend," characterized by "elevated rhetoric" that heightens Constance's plight and her "patient suffering."

Contributor
Richard G. Newhauser, ed.
Susan J. Ridyard, ed.

Alternative Title
Sin in Medieval and Early Modern Culture: The Tradition of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Chaucer Subjects
Man of Law and His Tale
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations
Style and Versification