Chaucer's 'Whelp': A Symbol of Marital Fidelity?
- Author / Editor
- Steadman, John M.
Chaucer's 'Whelp': A Symbol of Marital Fidelity?
- Published
- Notes and Queries 201 (1956): 374-75.
- Description
- Offers support for the notion that the whelp episode in BD (387-96)—likely derived from Machaut's "Dit dou Lyon"—serves as a "symbol of fidelity," adducing instances of Renaissance "canine symbolism" and the appearance of dogs "on medieval tombs." Suggests that the symbol may relate to Chaucer's loyalty to John of Gaunt and his deceased wife, to Gaunt's own loyalty to his wife, or to "Blanche's 'fides uxoria' s evinced in the course of her life."
- Chaucer Subjects
- Book of the Duchess
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations