‘‘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.

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Malissa Kent