Chaucer in Context: Society, Allegory, and GenderWhilst the Canterbury Tales are universally acknowledged as one of the great texts of English literature, there is perhaps less critical agreement about their meaning than for any other work in the English literary canon. In particular, critics and historians have been unable to reach any consensus about the social, political and religious values which Chaucer favoured. Did his writings represent a challenge to the dominant social outlook of his day or were they intended to reinforce the contemporary status quo? Was Chaucer a poet of profound religious piety or a sceptic who questioned all religious and moral certainties? Was he a defender of women or a misogynist whose writings reproduced the antifeminism characteristic of his time? How do Chaucer's works relate to medieval ideas about the nature and purposes of poetry? Do his pilgrims reflect the social reality of his day or were they the expression of traditional literary conventions? |
Contents
reallife observation versus literary convention | 1 |
Monologic versus dialogic Chaucer | 18 |
Allegorical versus humanist Chaucer | 78 |
Copyright | |
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Aers allegorical Allen argued authority Bakhtin Biblical Blamires Boethius Brown and Butcher Canterbury Canterbury Tales carnival characters Chaucer Review Chaucer the poet Chauntecleer Christ Christian claims clerical context Cooper Coopland courtly love depicted dialogic discourse Donaldson Emily emphasised explicitly fabliau fourteenth-century Friar gender genre Gower Griselda hierarchy historical human humanist Huppé husband ideal ideology instance interpretation John Gower Knapp Knight's Tale Kolve late medieval literal Mann marriage meaning medieval literature medieval writers Miller Miller's Tale Minnis misogynist misogyny modern reader monologic moral nature Nun's Priest's Tale offer Olson pagan Parson Parson's Tale particular patristic critics Patterson Pearsall perspective pilgrims political portrait Prudence rhetoric Robertson satire scriptures seen sense simply social society specific speech spiritual St Paul Tale of Melibee Theseus Theseus's things tion told traditional truth Venus Virgin virtue voice whilst Wife of Bath Wife's woman women world-view