Shakespeare’s "Henriadic" Monarchy and Chaucerian/Elizabethan Religion.

Author / Editor
Olson, Paul A.

Title
Shakespeare’s "Henriadic" Monarchy and Chaucerian/Elizabethan Religion.

Published
Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 33 (2020): 89–117.

Description
Examines views of monarchy and Catholic/Protestant conflicts in Shakespeare's "second tetralogy," plays set during and soon after Chaucer's lifetime. Includes discussion of Falstaff as a figure viewed "through the lens of Chaucer’s time"—a figure of Jovinian excess who rejects penance, and recalls at points Chaucer's Wife of Bath, as well as the Summoner, Friar, and Pardoner as false clerics. In these plays, Shakespeare "turns, for his salvific, from honest penance--Chaucer’s solution--to royal contrition and honest action."

Chaucer Subjects
Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion
Wife of Bath and Her Tale
Canterbury Tales--General