Wife Of Bath's Tale Research Articles

Satire and The Cambridge Introduction to Satire

Satire and The Cambridge Introduction to Satire

Noble and Joyous Histories: English Romances, 1375–1650 ed. by Eileán Ní Cuilleanáin, J. D. Pheifer

REVIEWS EILEAN Nf CUILLEANAIN and J. D. PHEIFER, eds. Noble andJoyous Histo­ ries: English Romances, 1375-1650. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1993. Pp. ix, 292. $39.50. Lately interest in the medieval romance as a genre has been intensifying: witness most recently the foundation of the Medieval Romance Society and its inaugural sessions at Kalamazoo in May 1994, on top of books like W R. J. Barron's guide of 1987, Derek Brewer's collection of essays of 1988, Maldwyn Mills's of 1991, and Carol Meale's of 1994, among others. So one might expect a new collection of essays on romance to be fully engaged in the continuing dialogue. Curiously, it is only partly so. One of the central issues in recent discussion, for example, is the vety difficulty ofdefining the genre. The Medieval Romance Society's session on the topic ("Roundtable on Medieval Romance: Toward a Definition of the Genre and Questions for Further Research," Kalamazoo, May 7, 1994) featured Derek Pearsall's declaration that there is no such thing. That ques­ tion is not even raised in this collection, however; the editors' "Introduc­ tion: European Tradition and English Romances" traces the history of "ro­ mance," beginning with early Greek examples, for which this rather circular definition is offered: "a poetic narrative with a romantic plot in which love triumphed with supernatural help in a remote and exotic set­ ting" (p. 1). No further definitions appear, though the introduction's atten­ tion soon turns to such diverse examples as the works of Chretien de Troyes, the Queste de/ Saint Graal, Malory·s tale of Balin, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and others (only some of which are discussed in the contributors' essays). The contributors of the essays that follow define the term for themselves without response from the editors, so that Piotr Sadowski is able to speak of "heroic epic" as romance's "prototype" (p. 12) without further explanation. The introduction, then, does not actually in­ troduce the essays in the collection, much less make clear the topic of the book as a whole. The quality of the contributions varies also, but there are some very good pieces, well worth the price of the book in themselves. I would mention principally Helen Cooney's essay on The Knight's Tale, Cathalin B. Folks's on The Wife of Bath's Tale and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, David Scott-Macnab's on the audience of burlesque romance, Lesley John­ son's on the alliterative Morte Arthure, Peter Field's on Malory, and Marion Wynne-Davies's on the seventeenth-century successors to Spenser. Helen Cooney's "Wonder and Boethian Justice in the Knight's Tale" 245 STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER poses a fascinating if controversial question: Is the dissatisfaction many readers feel with the ending of the Tale not only Chaucer's intended re­ sponse but his way of leading readers to question or even reject Boethius's ideas of justice in the Consolation? To quote her conclusion: ...that Chaucer has embedded a strictly Boethian reading of Arcite's death in the Knight's Tale at all is evidence that he did not wish to ignore entirely Boethius' teaching concerning apparently unjust suffering and the notion of how to reconcile it with the goodness of God: but that it is felt to be so at odds with the natural reading of the tale is, I would suggest, a measure of the extent to which he wished to dissociate himself from that teaching. [P. 58] The arguments leading to this conclusion are carefully constructed, build­ ing partly on ideas proposed by Edward C.Schweitzer (SAC 3 [1981}) but disagreeing with his conclusion that Arcite's death was deserved. Her con­ clusion is persuasive, then, for readers who agree with her "natural reading" ofthe Tale's ending but perhaps will be less so for those who find Schweit­ zer's conclusion satisfactory. Cathalin Folks compares the characters of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Wife ofBath's Tale with similar figures in popular romance, both the tail-rhyme tradition and the alliterative tradition. These compari­ sons make possible an insightful and well-nuanced...

A History of Anglo-Latin Literature, 1066–1422 by A. G. Rigg

STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER Richmond's interpretive focus appears at times to override introductory considerations. For example, she treats The Pardoner's Tale as a sermon; she includes his Prologue in her discussion because he there speaks about his preaching (pp. 118-23). By contrast, The Wife ofBath's Tale, placed among the secular romances, is treated in total isolation from its Prologue (pp. 7279 ). Richmond several times alludes to a "Marriage Debate, initiated by the Wife ofBath" (p. 125), but she never deals directly with the substance of this "debate" or of the Wife's Prologue. It appears that Richmond does not wish to discuss material that, as she indicates in a footnote (p. 201 n. 5), she has treated elsewhere. Thus she presents the Wife ofBath's Tale as if it had nothing to do with its Prologue; it is a romance, "an argument for a virtuous life, especially difficult in a world of chivalry" (p. 73), centered upon the moral education of its (nameless!) knight. In an introductory book on Chaucer, one might reasonably expect more coherently presented attention to be paid to the Wife of Bath's Prologue and the "Marriage De­ bate" than we find here. One doubts that scholars or advanced students of Chaucer will find much of interest in this book. The interpretive material is scarcely devel­ oped and seldom original, while large areas of critical interest are often slighted or ignored. On the other hand, it seems to this reviewer too advanced and eccentric a study to be of much use to a novice reader or introductory student as a sort of companion to a first reading of Chaucer's poetry. Who, then, would or should read this book? "I kan nat seye." MICHAEL D. CHERNISS University of Kansas A.G. RIGG. A History ofAnglo-Latin Literature,1066-1422. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. ix, 414. $95.00. A.G. Rigg's A History ofAnglo-Latin Literature, 1066-1422, as its title suggests, is a broad historical survey of the Latin literature written in England between the Norman Conquest and the death of Henry V. Rigg modestly describes his study as being "scarcely more than an outline," a "rough sketch map" of this variegated and largely uncharted literary land­ scape. His modesty is appropriate, for it would hardly be possible for any one scholar to do much more than that in a single volume, considering the 254 REVIEWS amount of literary material there is to contend with. Nevertheless, despite the author's humility in the face of what seems a daunting undertaking, the book is remarkable for what it attempts and for what it achieves. Rigg's stated purpose is to fill in an important gap in our knowledge of the literature of medieval England, and his study does that admirably. Anglo-Latin Literature is divided into four sections, each of which corre­ sponds to a major political-historical division: (1) William I to Stephen, (2) Henry II toJohn, (3) Henry III to Edward I, and (4) Edward II to Henry V. These sections are treated as discrete units, for the most part, with intro­ ductions that lay out the historical background and conclusions that gen­ eralize about the literary currents of the subperiod just discussed in its particulars. In each section Rigg situates authors and works firmly within their historical· context. Throughout the work the twin emphases are on chronology and historical contextualization, both of which are necessary. One cannot help feeling, however, that they are emphasized at the expense of other important considerations such as genre, the evolution of literary traditions, and the literary relationships between authors, which receive far less attention. In each of his four subperiods Rigg identifies and discusses every major author and work, makes brief mention of many minor authors and their works, and sometimes focuses on anonymous pieces that might otherwise escape our notice. In addition he occasionally puts forward a neglected writer whose work, he believes, deserves greater consideration. On the whole, his study reads much like a handbook or an encyclopedia, and that is one of its chief virtues, since many scholars will use it primarily as a reference work...

The Tales of the Clerk and the Wife of Bath ed. by Marion Wynne-Davies

REVIEWS pectations. The generic character of Troilus, in Windeatt's reading, is the most distinctive aspect of the poem and the most important cause of its astonishing depth and richness. A brief review cannot do justice to the argument--especially as it enfolds the remainder of the volume---and I shall not try. I can only urge all to read it for themselves. Windeatt's guide ably summarizes previous scholarship and criticism and usefully extends the notes to the Riverside Chaucer (one of its stated intentions). There are, naturally, shortcomings; no single guide can be all things to all people. I note relatively little account of some kinds of theo­ retically informed readings, especially those that proceed from or focus on gender studies, narrative theory, and newer forms of psychoanalytic criti­ cism. It may simply be a measure of diverging tendencies in British and American Chaucer studies, but the summaries of criticism are markedly British in orientation. Thus, for example, among feminist readers of Troilus, Windeatt uses Priscilla Martin and Jill Mann but only mentions Carolyn Dinshaw. The fairness and temperance with which he treats ap­ proaches he does not share is an excellence ofthe book; still, I miss substan­ tial engagement with the best of these other approaches. For those inter­ ested in pursuing them, however, the final bibliography includes a good selection. The writing of such a guide might seem a modest task, performed in service to students and colleagues. Windeatt's accomplishment is to do this well and at the same time to offer far more. I expect his guide to serve us admirably for a long time to come. KARLA TAYLOR Universiry of Michigan MARION WYNNE-DAVIES, ed. The Tales ofthe Clerk and the Wife ofBath. London and New York: Routledge English Texts, 1992. Pp. viii, 210. $12.95 paper. This handy paperback of two feminist Chaucerian texts offers a complete compendium of resources--historical and contextual introduction, critical commentary, notes, glossary, and bibliography-primarily for students but of value to other scholars as well. Based on the Hengwrt manuscript (and amply defended-primarily because it has less editorial interference than 299 STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER its only competitor, the Ellesmere), the texts contain four bracketed Elles­ mere additions (to The Wife ofBath's Tale, which she believes are "probably authorial revisions and thus must be included in the text"). Bottom-of-the­ page glosses facilitate reading the text. A brief section on language and form indicates changes in pronunciation and describes inflectional endings. This edition retains some Middle English spellings, keeping ily, ylg and oulow, but modernizes 3 toy or gh, regularizes ulv and ilj, and joins words such as ther by and with outen. Wynne-Davies's introductory section, aimed primarily at a student audi­ ence without prior knowledge of the plan of the Tales or the function of the tellers, is very useful.. Her discussion of the historic past is necessarily somewhat complex, but not excessively dense. The strongest parts, the interpretive "Cultural and Social Contextualization" and "Women in the Medieval Period," are of use to Chaucerian scholars as well. The excellent application of the effects of social unrest and individual determinism ap­ plied to the Wife, and her antithesis in the person of Griselda, is reasonable and informative. Despite acknowledging "Walter's irrational cruelty," the idealized picture she paints of the Clerk and "the tale's moral message of patience in the face of adversity" fail to suggest the extent of the latter's misogyny. The section on sources is nicely comprehensive, noting romance and folklore analogues; I cannot always make the leap, however, that, sim­ ply because Chaucer knew John Gower or Eustache Deschamps, he used their work when it did not circulate until 1390 or 1406, respectively­ after the "derived" tales in question were completed. The introduction locates the two tales properly within Kittredge's Mar­ riage Group but fails to consider explicitly his interactive, quiting-based dramatic theory; yes, many of the marriage tales are "confrontational" and represent "a case of incompatibility," but the regular and patterned quiting nature of the confrontation acted out in words, in an.cl out of the Tales, could be foregrounded more...

Alisoun Still Lives Here: Provocations, Politics, and Pedagogy in the Wife of Bath's Tale, Hamlet, and Paradise Lost

Alisoun Still Lives Here: Provocations, Politics, and Pedagogy in the Wife of Bath's Tale, Hamlet, and Paradise Lost

Alisoun Still Lives Here: Provocations, Politics, and Pedagogy in the Wife of Bath's Tale, Hamlet, and Paradise Lost

Alisoun Still Lives Here: Provocations, Politics, and Pedagogy in the Wife of Bath's Tale, Hamlet, and Paradise Lost

Alison's Incapacity - Reply

Susan Crane's “Alison's Incapacity and Poetic Instability in the Wife of Bath's Tale” (102 [1987]: 20–28), though superior to many of the articles it cites, finally demonstrates not so much the Wife's “incapacity” as the inadequacy of an approach that Crane shares with many critics of the Wife of Bath. The approach is characterized by a failure to distinguish sufficiently between the prologue and the tale and by the related assumption (despite words to the contrary) that Alison is a real person, not a fictitious character.

A Tale of Wonder: A Source Study of the Wife of Bath's Tale. Sigmund Eisner

<i>A Tale of Wonder: A Source Study of the Wife of Bath's Tale</i>. Sigmund Eisner

The Marital Dilemma in the Wife of Bath's Tale

Confronted with his fabulously ugly wife after an unwelcome marriage ceremony, Chaucer's hero in the Wife of Bath's Tale receives from her a bit of consolation as ineffective as it is irrefutable. True it is, she says, that I am foul and old, but consider that for this very reason you need never fear that I shall cuckold you:D 1215 “For filthe and eelde, also moot I theeBeen gret wardeyns upon chastitee.“

Voltaire and 'The wife of Bath's tale.'

Voltaire and 'The wife of Bath's tale.'