Moments of Silence, Acts of Speech: Uncovering the Incest Motif in the Man of Law's Tale (original) (raw)
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EFD / JFL Geoffrey Chaucer's Hybrid Woman: The Prioress in The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales presents pilgrims whose status in the medieval three estates is not clearly defined. The Prioress is one of those pilgrims who experiences in-betweenness as she lives in what Bhabha terms the " territories " (1994, p. 28) of her former and present estates, the nobility and the clergy respectively. In fact, the members of medieval monasteries were mostly of the noble origin. Generally, it was not the choice of the members of the nobility to enter monasteries; yet, it was the wish of their families. Thereby, most of the noble men and women had to leave their previously secular and worldly life behind and live in full compliance with the monastic rules which required an entirely ascetic life. Accordingly, in most cases, the noble members of monasteries had difficulty in adjusting to monastic life which put them in between the territories of their former and present estates, in what Bhabha terms " a third space " (1994, p. 28). As they neither completely belonged to the nobility nor to the clergy, those nobles of monasteries lived in a third space contesting the territories of both estates. Thus, they became medieval hybrids. Similar to her historical counterparts, Chaucer's Prioress of noble birth can find a fixed status or identity neither in the nobility nor in the clergy, and she has to live in between them. That is, the Prioress develops a hybrid identity at the interface between her former and present estates. Within this context, this paper aims to discuss Chaucer's Prioress in The Canterbury Tales as a medieval hybrid who occupies a medieval third space on the borders between the nobility and the clergy. Öz Geoffrey Chaucer'ın Canterbury Hikayeleri Ortaçağ'ın üç sınıfında yeri tam olarak belli olmayan hacıları resmeder. Eski (soylular) ve yeni (ruhban) sınıfları arasındaki Bhabha'nın deyişiyle " alanlarda " yaşam sürdüğü için arada kalan Başrahibe bu hacılardan biridir. Ortaçağ'da manastır mensupları genellikle soylulardan oluşurdu. Soylular manastırlara çoğunlukla kendi tercihlerinden değil, ailelerinin istekleri doğrultusunda girerlerdi. Bu yüzden, bu asil erkek ve kadınların çoğu laik ve dünyevi hayatlarını arkalarında bırakıp, bütünüyle dünyaya kapalı bir hayat gerektiren manastır kuralları doğrultusunda yaşamak zorunda kalırlardı. Dolayısıyla, manastırın asil mensupları çoğunlukla manastır hayatına ayak uydurmakta zorluk çekerler ve Bhabha'nın " üçüncü alan " olarak tanımladığı eski ve yeni sınıflarının arasında yaşamak zorunda bırakılırlardı. Tam anlamıyla ne soylu nede ruhban sınıfına ait olmayan manastırın bu soylu mensupları iki sınıfında alanlarını kapsayan üçüncü bir alanda yaşayarak Ortaçağın melez bireylerine dönüştüler. Tarihteki emsallerine benzer bir şekilde, kendine ne soylular nede ruhban sınıfında
At the heart of the Man of Law's Tale lies a contradiction. Its female protagonist, Custaunce, faces jarring inconstancy: first cast off to Syria, then to Northumberland, and finally returning to Rome, her tumultuous circumstances challenge her namesake, constancy. When washed up to Northumberland, Custaunce's speech is notably "a maner Latin corrupt," marking her cultural foreignness to the country and the new name she gives its king, Alla (l. 512). This article will position Custaunce's "corrupt" speech as part of a greater logic of dismemberment that frames her tale, and that explains why her inconstancy is crucial to her character development. I trace Custaunce's tale to others that I believe parallel her narrative-the Pardoner's Tale and the Physician's Tale-which also feature disruptions in the speech and the namesakes of their principal characters. Moreover, I bring in Reason's discourse from the influential Roman de la Rose in order to explain how Custaunce's inconstancy is actually part of a greater statement on linguistic instability. As Custaunce evokes a disjuncture between constancy, her namesake, and the inconstancy of her experiences, so does she capture Reason's claim-that the relationship between name and thing are inherently unstable.
Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 2021
Geoffrey Chaucer‘s The Canterbury Tales, which contains 24 stories, presents a panorama of his society through the pilgrims‘ stories. These tales engage themselves with numerous issues such as the representation of women and men, courtly love, knighthood, honor, and pious life. These stories have different sources like fabliau, romance, the courtly love tradition, and saint‘s legend. The portrayal of gender plays a highly significant role in these tales that highlight the suppression of women. This study will, in this respect, discuss the problematic depiction of gender and gender roles through the detailed discussion of the female characters in the three selected tales in Chaucer‘s The Canterbury Tales, namely ―The Franklin‘s Tale,‖ ―The Physician‘s Tale,‖ and ―The Man of Law‘s Tale.‖ This discussion will ultimately reveal what kind of attributes these female characters are given in line with the historical, social, and literary context through numerous specific examples from the tales and relevant secondary sources.
Chaucer and His Bastard Child: Social Disjunction and Metaliterariness in The Two Noble Kinsmen
The long-standing and belaboured problem of the authorship of The Two Noble Kinsmen has often prompted readings of the play that have emphasized the uneven quality of various scenes or rifts indicative of the supposedly patchwork quality of the final product of Shakespeare’s and Fletcher’s cooperation. This article breaks with this critical tradition and instead stresses the play’s unity. The key issue analyzed is the relationship of The Two Noble Kinsmen to its source, understood, however, not so much as “The Knight’s Tale” itself, but as the figures of Chaucer and his characters. Suggesting that the play’s prologue is more than just a conventional opening, the argument outlines the contrast between Chaucer’s original characters and those added in the Jailer’s Daughter subplot. In its course, it posits the existence of a fundamental ontological gulf between the two groups and focuses on the only moment when it is bridged, offering a Bakhtinian reading of the carnivalesque masque and morris dance in the woods. In effect, the article provides a consistent reading of a both socio-historical and meta-literary nature which does justice to the play’s overall unity.
The Status of Women in the Patriarchal Society of Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale"
Jordan Journal of Modern Languages and Literature, 2017
This paper aims at analyzing the status of women in a man-dominated society, as shown in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale". To achieve such a goal, the paper analyzes the formation and development of some female figures of the tale, like Ypolita and Emelye. The paper discusses the various consequences of forcing such female characters to live in patriarchal societies, and it explains some strategies used by female characters to resist patriarchal dominance. I argue that Ypolita and Emelye's silence, for instance, is one of the main approaches adopted by the tale's female characters to resist Man's dominance, and that though silence seems productive for resisting and challenging patriarchy, it might spur Man's anger and cause him to view women as an enemy, and behave accordingly. In addition, the paper discusses the struggle between female characters' desire to be independent from Man as much as possible and the desire of male characters to dominate females. Nevertheless, arguing for and against such ideas, this paper concludes that "The Knight's Tale" discusses the patriarchy-dominated medieval society's viewpoint that women will always be dominated and controlled by men since the system of the whole universe is patriarchal.
In the recent times when large of part of thinking, writing and efforts are made to change the condition of women and also to present the true picture of their position in the society, Geoffrey Chaucer in the Middle Ages (1392) wrote The Canterbury Tales. He depicted women belonging to different groups and positions and in different conditions but all of them were suffering under the male dominated society. Due to the lack of education and authority, women's role has always been confined to the four walls of the house and their rationality, independence and loyalty is questioned. Although the women have been fighting a long battle for freedom, yet their position has still not changed. This paper is an endeavour to put forward the relevance of The Canterbury Tales which was written in 1392 but has truly depicted the unchanged position of women even now. This paper presents that the work of Chaucer was ahead of its time and women's struggle to come out of the shackles of patriarchy is still not achieved.
The Matriarch of Bath – Chaucer’s Feminist Insights
This paper critically analyzes Geoffrey Chaucer’s character Allison of his tale “The Wife of Bath” within the Canterbury Tales. The argument is made that Chaucer intentionally used this character to present his personal feminist ideals to his audience, thereby acting as an advocate for women under the guise of literary author. Evidence will be presented both from the text by analyzing her characterization, imagery, and dialog while the weight of this thesis will rest upon The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer evidence presented by scholars, particularly from the “Chaucer Review” scholarly journal, as well as research conducted on the life and times of women during the medieval era.
In the construction of his authorial persona, Chaucer sought to identify himself with genres of literature that may have been associated with female readership in the medieval cultural imagination, including vernacular devotional writing (Pseudo-Origen's De Maria Magdalena), conduct literature (the Tale of Melibee), and hagiography (the Introduction to the Man of Law's Tale). By exploiting the cultural resonances of these stereotypically women's genres, Chaucer positioned himself as a writer for an emerging bourgeois audience and distinguished his works as compassionate and socially productive.