A Chaucerian Puzzle.

Author / Editor
Sullivan, Helen.

Title
A Chaucerian Puzzle.

Published
Natalie Grimes Lawrence and Jack A. Reynolds, eds. A Chaucerian Puzzle and Other Medieval Essays (Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press, 1961), pp. 1-46.

Description
Challenges the theory that ShT was originally intended to be narrated by the Wife of Bath, and suggests a major emendation: moving lines 7.5-19 (which include first-person feminine pronouns) later in the tale and having them spoken by the merchant's wife rather than the narrator. Contrasts the characterizations of the merchant's wife and the Wife of Bath, argues that the tale is appropriate to the Shipman, and surveys critical history of the assignment of the tale.

Contributor
Lawrence, Natalie Grimes, ed.
Reynolds, Jack A., ed.

Alternative Title
A Chaucerian Puzzle and Other Medieval Essays.

Chaucer Subjects
Shipman and His Tale
Wife of Bath and Her Tale