Marshall W. Stearns, "Chaucer's Attitude Toward Love"

Chaucer's Attitude Toward Love

Marshall W. Stearns

Speculum, Vol. 17, No. 4. (Oct., 1942), pp. 570-574.

Found on JSTOR

Stearns uses passages from The Book of the Duchess and Troilus and Criseyde to develop a personal understanding of the poet behind these works. The focus is on an allusion within the poetry to Chaucer's eight year long love-sickness, and its historical relevance in relation to his published work. This article only goes into surface detail on Chaucer as a failed lover, but the information would be useful for continued research. It also catalogues the multiple avenues for understanding what Chaucer thinks about courtly love, and perhaps more importantly, Chaucer's self-image as an authority on loving. Stearns believes Chaucer may have thought: "Can a 'clerc' of love really teach anything, if he believes himself to be unfeeling-blind and unable to judge hues in this manner?"

Priapus and the Parlement of Foulys

Emerson Brown, Jr. "Priapus and the Parlement of Foulys." Studies in Philology. V. 72. 1975. pp. 258-74.

Brown begins by addressing criticism of Chaucer's borrowings from Ovid, Boccaccio, and other source texts in an attempt to validate Chaucer's adaptation and treatment of the material to his dream vision the Parliament of Fowls. Brown proposes that, although the stanzas in Boccaccio and in Chaucer allude to the story from Ovid (the phallic god Priapus is near to penetrating a Naiad when an ass intrudes), Chaucer's incorporation of the event into Parliament presents "a more bawdy possibility, created by the syntactical unity of the last phrase," which is more suited to the theme of Love. Brown objects that these three lines, which, as he reads them, depict men trying to crown Priapus's phallus with garland of flowers, are padding; and suggests that they symoblize a lack of sexual gratification. Brown goes on to engage other criticisms which purport that the presence of Priapus shuts down any theories that Chaucer is "subordinationg" sensuality. Brown illustrates his claim by conflating the intrusion of the ass witht the lack of success in the men's attempt to crown the phallus: "the voluptuousness of Priapus is inhibited," and therefore comical (Brown's italics). Brown also seems determined to address another extreme of criticism of Priapus, which reads the phallic god "as representing everything the interpreter finds opposed to the moral center of the poem," by reading the actual parliament of birds as adhering to the code of courtly love. Brown, however, finds the scene of the parliament as another instance of delayed sexual gratification, claiming the act of choosing is in anticipation of the sex act. He concludes the article by stating that readers are not asking the right questions when trying to see Priapus in a good or bad light: they should consider that Chaucer "may have seen some aspects of life and art in a less morally absolute way," and that Priapus might be just an object of folly "softened by the recognition that what is so amusing and ridiculous in others may be within our own hearts."

This was a frustrating read because Brown has a very vague thesis, in which he basically states that he will examine Priapus' role in the poem. He does not slant it in any way, which was confusing when reading what at first seemed generalizations throughout the article. However, it does maintain a consistent discussion on whether Priapus should be viewed as a positive representation of sexuality or a negative one. In the end, Brown opts for a compromised reading, as can be seen from the quotes above. On the other hand, there are next to no articles devoted to the subject of Priapus, so Brown's essay is valuable in that respect.

Interesting if one is focusing on the the topic of sexuality in the Parliament.

Seductive Violence and Three Chaucerian Women

O’Brien, Timothy D. Seductive violence and three Chaucerian Women. College Literature (West Chester University, PA) (Spring 2001) p 178-196

O’Brien takes a look at the Wife of Bath, the wife in the Shipman’s tale, and the Prioress, with the argument that all three of them portray themselves as objects of violence in order to provoke sexual desire in men. By far, the most interesting argument he puts forth is that each woman in the tales, tailors how she portrays herself as on object of violence to the man she’s trying to seduce. Alison, in the Wife of Bath’s Tale, uses a dream to seduce Jenkyn, which O’Brien argues is working within how education worked in the time- beatings were given to beat out the feminine qualities and instill a sense of masculinity when lessons weren’t learned- lessons which were often tied to violence around women, and where rape was often treated as a way for men to become one with their masculinity. The wife in the Shipman’s Tale is trying to seduce a monk, and with the language of how she refers to herself, is reminiscent of the bodily violence and torture perpetrated onto female saints of the time. Where O’Brien’s argument becomes confusing and difficult to follow is when he’s attempting to explain the medieval mindset about how women are inherently violent and unclean to explain Alison’s dream. He also argues that the Prioress romanticizes violence, and by doing so creates herself as a romance object, her need to be desired more general than the other two women he talks about. This argument is vague and glossed over. The points about how the women in the stories are constructing the men as the powerful party by placing themselves in violent seductive positions, is interesting and worth reading. The most interesting part of the article however was the discussion of how violence, and specifically violence towards women, was an integral part of the education of males in the medieval ages.

Available on LION

"Why the Devil Wears Green" by W.D. Robertson Jr.

Robertson Jr., W.D. “Why the Devil Wears Green.” Modern Language Notes, Vol. 69, No. 7. (Nov., 1954), pp. 470-472.

This article gives two explanations as to why the fact that the fiend in the Friar’s Tale is dressed in green should be a warning as to his true identity. Firstly, the color green is highly associated with the Celtic underworld, although this explanation presumes that Chaucer and his audience was aware of the connection. A second argument for the devil being dressed in green is based off of the work of a mid-fourteenth century humanist Pierre Bersuire, who wrote an entire chapter on the color green in his encyclopedia. This work suggests that the devil, a master hunter, dresses in green because beasts like the color and are attracted to it and he wishes to make himself appear pleasant and not forewarn those he wishes to trap. The fiend in the Friar’s tale wishes to attract his fellow worker, the summoner. Unlike the first explanation, where the color green is a direct warning to all characters involved, the second is only a warning to the reader rather than to those within the tale.

This article can be found on JSTOR.

Haldeen Braddy, "Chaucer's Comic Valentine"

Chaucer's Comic Valentine
Haldeen Braddy
Modern Language Notes

Braddy uses evidence from Chaucer’s historical background to support his argument that Parliament of Fowles is meant to be read as comedy. He argues (rather weakly) that because animals are portrayed as talking personalities, the poem is humorous in basic framework. His are claims originate from Gardiner Stillwell’s critical work “Unity and Comedy in Chaucer’s Parliament of Foules.” Braddy doesn’t sufficiently resolve the question of irony in the poem, yet considers his argument true. Aside from the general argument, this short article has plenty of useful bibliographical data, and a short paragraph on Chaucer’s participation in the negotiations of betrothing Prince Richard and Princess Marie.

Available on JSTOR

Tony Hahn

Pilgrimage by Johnation Sumption

Pilgrimage

By Jonathan Sumption

Ich thinke it bothe mete and righte that thou shalt rede this grete boke. I loved this book. If you are interested in how the medieval cult of saints arose, how relics were venerated and dispersed, the laws surrounding pilgrimage, and the sexual and class politics of pilgrimage, this book is the place to turn. You will learn under what circumstances a pilgrimage would be required (criminals from Liege were sent to Rome and were required to climb the steps of the Lateran Basilica their knees and remain kneeling for the duration of five masses; in 1186, arson could be punished by a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; at Maastricht, murderers were allowed to buy their way out of the pilgrimages they were ordered to make), the documentation one could receive to prove one had completed one’s penance, and the laws governing pilgrims on the road. Chapters you shouldn’t miss include: The Cult of Relics,” “The Saints and Their Relics,” “The Pursuit of the Miraculous,” “The Growth of a Cult,” and a chapter entitled “Light-Minded and Inquisitive Persons.” Many Chaucer references throughout.

Available at Seymour Library (BR 252 .S92)

John Bowers, "Dronkenesse is Ful of Stryvyng": Alcoholism and Ritual Violence in Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale"

Bowers, John M. “Dronkenesse is Ful of Stryvyng”: Alcoholism and Ritual Violence in Chaucer’s Pardoner’s Tale. ELH, Vol. 57, No. 4. (Winter, 1990), pp.757-784

John M. Bowers explains Chaucer’s Pardoner by suggesting that some – if not all – of the Pardoner’s behavior and characteristics (including his emasculation) may be understood by his apparent alcoholism. The article is divided neatly in sections, each beginning with a line from the text, followed by a number of paragraphs of explication. The article is perhaps at its best when Bowers notes the prevalent attitudes of Chaucer’s time period, and Bowers cites many period texts which may be of research value. Where it seems less strong to me are at the instances in which the article relies heavily on modern theories of psychology and alcoholism, including numerous citations from texts produced by Alcoholics Anonymous. Ultimately, if a reader is able to suspend disbelief at what may seem like anachronistic moments in the argument, I think he or she will be rewarded with an illuminating and novel explanation of the Pardoner.

– Available on JSTOR
Lisa Goetz

Charles Watkins, "Chaucer's Sweete Preest."

Watkins, Charles A. “Chaucer’s Sweete Preest.” ELH, Vol. 36, No. 3. (Sep., 1969), pp. 455-469

Charles A. Watkins is concerned with addressing various critics’ characterizations of the Nun’s Priest. Watkins recognizes that the rooster is “a conventional symbol of a priest,” yet the theory he puts forth – which relies upon the external characteristics and physiognomic notions of Chaucer’s day – aligns the humble widow with the Priest, and antithetically, the rooster with the host. Watkins also describes the Priest as a morally “aloof” narrator, who tells a tale with non-human characters in an attempt to address the Pilgrim’s behaviors without explicitly criticizing individuals. Perhaps the most compelling argument put forth by Watkins is that the Priest’s occasional departures from his position of aloofness reveal the Priest’s suppressed misogynistic views as well as his true opinions regarding free will. Ultimately, Watkins’ various descriptions help to explain the Priest and his tale, but his article may be more enlightening if one were to have been familiar with the critics and criticisms that he sought to address.

– Available on JSTOR
Lisa Goetz

Paul Strohm, "A Mixed Commonwealth of Style"

"A Mixed Commonwealth of Style"
Strohm, Paul. "A Mixed Commonwealth of Style." Social Chaucer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press (1989), pp.168-9, 171-78, 197-82, 225-27.

In this article Strohm pulls from Bakhtin and argues that the Canterbury Tales posesses polyvocality, wherein "its voices are never subject to dialectical resolution", and that it has this trait not because it is meant as a true reflection of a diverse and disrupted society, but because its polyvocality is a tool to meditate on the view of society as diverse and disrupted. By shattering the meditation into diverse and contradictory voices, the piece manages to address multiple issues and views without threat or danger. Strohm goes on to demonstrate that the Tales are not realistic depictions of medival England; the peasantry, which made up nine tenths of the populace, is entirely represented by the single plowman, who tells no tale. Furthermore, Chaucer also expresses doubt as to the use of fabulation to convey truth, implying that the Tales, being fabulations, should not be interpreted as taken from reality. Strohm concludes that the Parson's tale at the end of the work and Chaucer's Retraction posit the utopian idea that while the world is full of competing views of reality, the proper response to this is to seek "beyond the temporal sphere and beyond works that imitate that sphere -- ... in 'omina secula'", that all might come together by transcending their factions and rivalries. He also suggests, in the same breath, that the utopian value of the CT is its ability to accomodate a world where such mixed discourse may take place.

--Liz Soehngen (see also the excerpt in the back of our class text, the Norton edition of Canterbury Tales, p. 556ff.)

Queer Pandarus? Silence and Sexual Ambiguity in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde

Pugh, Tison. “Queer Pandarus? Silence and Sexual Ambiguity in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde.” Philological Quarterly. Winter 2001 p. 17-35

Pugh uses queer theory to take a look at the relationship between Pandarus and Troilus in Troilus and Criseyde, finding queer undertones to the text. He states that in medieval contexts, there were no clear definitions of sexuality drawn by being either heterosexual or homosexual, and so we shouldn’t try to understand the relationships in the text as such. However, he does say that the relationship between two men, and specifically where the line should be drawn as acceptable behavior and unacceptable behavior, was a concern in Chaucer’s day, and that it makes sense for Chaucer to have addressed it. Pugh cites many ambiguous moments in the text, and the things that Pandarus doesn’t say, the things he alludes to or will never give a clear answer about, as clues to the idea that the text can be read queerly. He argues that the driving force behind the action of the story is what Pandarus actually wants, and everything that happens is because of Pandarus’ desire--that the relationship between Pandarus and Troilus is about the power Pandarus has over Troilus, and that part of this power fulfills a sort of erotic need in Pandarus. Pugh stresses throughout that Chaucer is deliberately leaving many questions open and ambiguous, inviting the reader to form their own opinion about the characters of the main players, and that it’s precisely this ambiguity that allows for a queer reading.

Available on LION

"Griselda Translated"

Dinshaw, Carolyn. “Griselda Translated.” Chaucer’s Sexual Poetics. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press 1989. pp 132-155.

In "Griselda Translated," Dinshaw draws parallels between men telling a story about women and men translating works from another language. She compares both Boccaccio, Petrarch, the Clerk, and Chaucer's translation of the Griselda story as well as their relationships to each other in their roles as translators. Dinshaw also suggests that the Clerk can be identified more as a Griselda character than a traditional male translator, which puts the tale and it's role in the greater work in an interesting light. I found this article extremely helpful in making sense of the various problems with the story that had been brought up in class discussion.

“Courtly Love in the Merchant’s and Franklin’s Tales.”

Holman, C. Hugh. “Courtly Love in the Merchant’s and Franklin’s Tales.” ELH, Vol. 18, No. 4 (1951,) pp 241-252.

Holman addresses how courtly love appears in the Merchant’s and Franklin’s tale. He starts his article by discussing the similarities and differences between the tales, outside of the courtly love issue. After establishing the similarities, he takes on the courtly love issue. He sees the Merchant’s Tale and the Franklin’s Tale as two very different ways of critiquing courtly love. He argues that the Merchant’s Tale shows “ideal” courtly love, and the sorrow and ridiculousness of it. He claims that the Franklin’s Tale shows the happy result of not following the precepts of courtly love. He brings up Troilus & Criseyde, and argues that the Merchant’s and the Franklin’s tale reflect a maturation on Chaucer’s part, by displaying a much more cynical view of courtly love than that expressed in Troilus & Criseyde. This article makes a good point, but it takes a lot longer than necessary to make the point. The author has a tendency to repeat himself, and overdo certain points.

Available on JSTOR.

Hannah Rapp

"Chaucer's Sense of Illusion: Roadside Drama Reconsidered"

"Chaucer's Sense of Illusion: Roadside Drama Recosidered." Jordan, Robert M. ELH, Vol. 29, No. 1 (March, 1962), pp. 18-33.

In this article Jordan is mostly arguing against the theory of the Canterbury Tales as a sort of roadside drama. He claims that because Chaucer inserts himself regularily into the text as it's author, he disrupts the reader's sense of illusion, pulling us out of the world of the fiction. Jordan says that the critics who support roadside drama have gone too far, citing some who claim to be able to read so far into the interactions of the Pilgrims as to figure out their pasts, and others who claim that Chaucer must have known each of the Pilgrims personally. He also makes the interesting claim that Chaucer's many apologies for the stories he 'has' to report does not show that Chaucer had any problem writing or telling any 'inappropriate' stories, but are actually used to pull the reader out of the illusion, reminding them that they are the ones who are taking the game in earnest, not the Pilgrims themselves. He also argues that too many critics try to find an 'organic' wholeness to the tales, when in fact the unity is 'mechanic', contrived by Chaucer to fit his purposes.

--avaliable on JSTOR

Malissa Kent

‘‘Wel bet is roten appul out of hoord": Chaucer's Cook,Commerce and Civic Order

‘'‘Wel bet is roten appul out of hoord': Chaucer's Cook, Commerce and Civic Order," by Craig E. Bertolet. Studies in Philology, summer 2002, Vol. 9, Issue 3, pg 229.

This article answers the question of how the Cook's tale "quytes" the Host, as he warns in his prologue. It explains a great deal about Londonian guilds and becoming a 'Citizen' in the merchant society. It ties the Cook's Tale back in with the previous two tales to warn that one must be careful as to who one accepts into one's home (which the host, being an innkeeper, cannot do). Bertolet argues that the Cook is included in the Tales at all to show the economic status of the Guildsmen (who never speak), and that he is constantly advertising himself in order to convince the others that he's a good cook despite his leg wound. The Host makes fun of the Cook's cooking and in return the Cook tells a tale which shows exactly how allowing one unruly person into the house can ruin one's own reputation for good. The revelling apprentice in the Tale ruins his master's reputation and scares customers away from his shop, Bertolet ties this back into the Host with reference to laws in London which make the innkeeper responsible for all his boarder's acts. Though Bertolet does not actually come right out and say it, he seems to be implying that the Cook is threatening to create a disturbance at the Host's inn and thus ruin his reputation, since the Host ruined his by insulting his food.

-Avaliable on EBSCOhost

Malissa Kent