Medieval Literature Notes Part 3/4 PDF

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Taught by Professor McDonald....

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Mar 1, 2015 Chaucer ● Framing tale- not quite a short story, frame tale was a way to collect and organize short poems ○ On the way to Canterbury, pilgrims are telling tales (fictional) ○ Lived over the top of the gate under which pilgrims went on their way to Canterbury, may have gone on one himself ○ Ability to observe and portray characters ● Apologia- a trope that apologizes ○ Ex: so sorry that I don’t have the ability to portray this ○ OR sorry that this character is so foul mouthed, this story is such a mess ○ OR I’m not sure I got to the point ● Transition time leads to Estate Satire ○ used to be three types of people ■ those who work, pray, rule - middle class ○ But now the middle class people are making lower noble look poor ● Chaucer transitions into upper class ○ his noble friends like him ○ Survived the succession of many Kings ■ received patronage from the King instead of being killed or forgotten ■ very self-deprecating, personable, entertainer/performer - likeability seemed to save him ● Levels removed ● Retelling new stories ● Chaucer is very much into astrology ○ wrote a book on how to use an astrolab (like a sexton) for his son ● Concept of the pilgrimage ○ going to the Holy land ○ those along who are drunk or acting stupidly ■ drunkenness was not seen as a positive thing on pilgrimage People ● Knight ○ Lines 44-78 ○ very similar to Gawain, ideal Knight: very perfect gentleman: courteous, kind, meek, humble but stood up as the Champion and won many times ○ some argue that there are elements which undercut his idealness ■ Crusade soldier ■ what battles he’s at- some are really horrible and some are battles where we teamed up with one group of Muslims against another and then backstabbed the group you had a truce with ○ wearing a stained thick cloth that goes under chainmail which is covered with rust, clean but rust-stained thick padding as a shirt ■ recently come from the Crusades ■ could be riding like that because he wants people to know he’s a Knight

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○ not rich, really believes in what he’s doing Squier ○ Lines 79-100 ○ Son of the knight, had been at war and they went different places ■ fighting for England in France 100 years war ○ “lusty bachelor” - chasing ladies ■ curled locks- either had his hair done or has naturally great hair ■ wearing a fancy embroidered shirt with meadows and flowers ■ 20 years old ○ Could sing, whistle/play flute, plays guitar, joust, dance, sketch, and write Yeman ○ Lines 101-117 ○ Robin Hood/ Legolas ○ Wears a green cloak ○ Woodsman, forester, does all the hunting for the knight, cleans game, sets up camp Prioress “Nun” ○ Lines 118- 164 ○ Madame Eglantine ■ very English ○ Good singer- sings nasally, speaks French after the fashion of England in Stratford ○ Really pretty ■ with a big, fair forehead ○ Really careful when she eats ■ never sticks her fingers into the sauce ■ never spills on her shirt ■ Very courteous, always wipes her lips when she’s sharing wine with someone, can’t see any of the grease that was on her lip in the wine ○ Has dogs, and is very particular about your dogs ■ not supposed to have little lapdogs (big dogs are okay because they work) when you’re a Nun because they detract from her work—she feeds them roasted flesh and peasants aren’t eating, Church made a big deal out of that ○ Wore a gold broach that says ‘love conquers all’ ■ the way it’s written makes it seem that she became a nun because she wanted to marry someone and it never happened ■ rich, noble women ended up in nunneries if they didn’t marry ■ could have learned such good manners because she was going to be a noblewoman but ended up a Prioress ■ now she does a lot of things that Prioress’ doesn’t do, can buy your kid a good position in a monastery or nunnery Wife of Bath ○ Deaf in one ear because she got her ear boxed

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Over forty Makes clothes, Weaver Had 5 husbands married by Catholic church, without counting other company in her youth ■ After they’ve made Wedding a sacrament, but not long after ■ Married outside of the church ■ First married at 12 ○ Her profession is wife, taken it to another level ○ Angry if someone else gives money to the poor first ○ Gap-toothed, big hat, veiled ○ Has received money from every husband she married ○ Rides a smooth-gaited horse ○ Can laugh, tell jokes, and knows the remedies of love ○ Foot mantle about her hip as large ■ a riding skirt which you stuff your dress into, like waders Marchant ○ twin bears ○ like Merchant of Venice ■ wants to keep trade routes guarded, very opinionated ○ Nobody knows if he’s in debt, never lets anyone know if he’s in deby ○ Dignified in his business Clerk ○ spends all his money on books, borrowing money to spend on books ○ very studious, reads philosophy ○ thin horse ○ hollow, threadbare ○ rather have books than anything else

March 8, 2016 Chaucer “The Miller’s Tale” ● Fabliau(x) ○ an extended dirty joke, commonly portrayed as the coarse humor of the lower class (genre of the poor) ● Quiting contest - quiting is trying to one-up someone else; this is in response to the tale of the Knight which is March 10, 2016 The Nun’s Priest’s Tale ● What is a nun’s priest? The priest assigned to the prioress and other nun ○ A priest who works with 7 or 8 nuns ○ His job is to confess sins for the nuns ○ In connection with the rooster and the hens, one priest with a bunch of sisters ● Uses allusions to convey the pretentiousness of the rooster ○ Levels of remove

Discussion Question 1. Setting - cottage with a hen house, dirt poor home but getting by, “a full, simple life” a. The owner of the cottage is a poor widow who has two daughters b. Never has stomach problems because she’s poor and can’t afford it i. Eats brown bread and drinks white milk instead of red or white wine, eats eggs and maybe some bacon, cheese c. Economics of the farm are important because we hear that the poor have great things going for them - can’t overeat and have to work so hard they stay fit (like a fitness: the poor woman’s active workout) BUT the chicken cast of characters portrays a different economic identity 2. Portrayal of Chauntecleer and Pertelote - King of the yard a. Royal, atomic rooster clock with his crowing; crows on the hour b. Description of the rooster’s handsomeness c. They are epic lovers, courtly love relationship - laid out to be the King and Queen of the chicken yard d. Inflates Chauntecleer’s status and then deflates it 3. Chauntecleer’s dream a. Portrayed as mysterious but it is clearly a fox that is going to eat him 4. Pertelot’s medieval medical beliefs a. Talks to Pertelote and she calls him a coward and prescribes laxatives- so many that if you actually took them all it’d be harmful i. Too much red bile and black choler - this is a valid dream interpretation in the time ii. Don’t eat too much before you sleep, you’ll have bad dreams 5. Chauntecleer’s discussion of medieval dream theory a. There are things to be gained from listening to dreams b. People talked about dreams more frequently because it was entertainment c. Cites actual texts about dreams but doesn’t interpret them- his argument is that dreams mean something d. Many theories for interpreting dreams, about 8 main ways ● Forgets his dream and all the warnings ● Chaucer goes into Boethian philosophy - God is timeless, exists outside of time; doesn’t make things happen but knows it happens ○ Solves choice and predetermination issues; causality and essence philosophy ● Includes elements from most other types of literature Chaucer enjoys: dream vision, beast fable, estates satire, parody, religious/philosophical treatise, slapstick, bawdry, moral lesson, slapstick, romance, sermon. ● Seen by some as a medley of Chaucer’s writing, a good sample Paper Response ● Doesn’t mark down for an argument that he doesn’t agree with Mar 22, 2016 The Pardoner’s Tale ● Self-revelatory because he is drunk and not in a situation where he is acting as a

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pardoner Hypocritical narrator- owns his hypocrisy, most don’t know it or hide it well Modern examples ○ televangelists (blessing through television, send money in the mail) ○ eBay relics/antiques ○ Voodoo and superstition; rabbit’s foot ○ Compare to Moses’ serpent - something simple, o ye of little faith Chaucer exposes apostasy ○ How hypocritical religion overlaps with superstition Problems with these ○ Drinking ○ Gambling ○ Cursing, taking the name of God in vain Tactics he uses ○ Exploiting faith, hope, and desperation ○ False relics ○ Can’t buy my relics if you’re a sinner The Old Man - who is he? ○ Longinus - the man who spears Christ’s side; becomes the wandering Jew in some stories ○ Possibly Death himself ■ Talks about being received by Mother Earth in ways that Greek tragedy characters talk about dying ○ The catalyst Go a blackberrying- means go waste your time, go somewhere else, go die Irony - the pardoner is drinking, is greedy, against avarice ○ Money is the root of all evil ○ If you want people to make donations to the church, this is a way to encourage it (need to not obsess about money, give to God) ○ If you want to go to heaven, give the preacher more money Catholic perspective on pardons ○ Leftovers from God’s grace ○ Necessary to be penitent Cheapens the notion of pilgrimage ○ Supposed to be going to a holy place to touch a relic to be healed of illnesses and insure better fortune, etc. ○ Exposing religious corruption ○ Priests would talk about the evils of pilgrimages and debate back and forth ○ Pardoner preying on religious people on the pilgrimage; disposed to buy his pardons Pardoner tries to sell pardons immediately after and calls out the Host of the pilgrimage, who gets very upset From Prologue ○ Pardoner and Summoner hang out

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Effeminacy on the part of the pardoner Homophobic literary criticism

Mar 29, 2016 ● Wife of Bath and religious notions of the time ○ St. Jerome Adversus Jovinianum ■ Advocated virginity as the highest way of living ● What is the Wife of Bath like? ○ Unattractive? ○ Powerful or power-hungry ○ Clever/Manipulative (biblical references) ○ Views herself as devout (perception) ○ Resourceful ○ Cognizant of perceptions (recognizes how things are going to look) ○ Chatty/ catty, gossip ○ Confessional or a braggart? ○ Shameless ○ Open to interpretation ○ Persuasive ● How is her tale appropriate to her person and similar to the ideas expressed in the prologue? ○ Her tale is about power and women - what do women want? ■ The rapist is punished by having to find out what women want ■ Either a horrible punishment or really easy ○ Tale asks to be deconstructed ○ Married to the hag ■ How you treat your wife affects the happiness of your marriage ● She’s ugly and horrible because he’s authoritative and oppressive? ○ Why does he give her the choice ■ Gives her the power/control ■ Did he learn what he was supposed to learn? ● Is he sincere in his answer? ● Just tell the women that she’s in charge to placate her ○ Is she in charge if you have to give her permission or have men claimed the power falsely that belongs to no one or to the woman? ● She coerces him to say that? ○ Men have power but then women act ■ Guinevere begs Arthur to let the women decide his fate ● Punish him with a quest rather than death ● Is this punishment more harsh? ● Written by Chaucer - male wish fulfillment; way to make up for rape; the old hag at the end becomes beautiful and young and

faithful so that it can be a happy ending Take everything, but let my body go ○ Metaphorically in the same position as his rape victim? ○ Not one answer to the question of what all women want or all people for that matter ■ Nobody disagrees with the hag’s answer of sovereignty/agency ● Good answer because everybody wants a say in their own life What the Wife of Bath says about marriage and virginity? ○ Medieval philosophy - blame the woman ○ Wife of Bath points out God-sanction of procreation and how this is at odds with doctrines of virginity ■ Church often said that most people would have to marry because they were weak ● St. Paul “better to marry than to burn” ○ Wife of Bath’s husband ■ Three were good and old ■ Age twelve at her first marriage ■ Thirty on third marriage ■ Fourth husband - middle-aged instead of really old ● Cheats on her so she pretends to cheat on him ■ Fifth husband Important tale, popular with anyone who talks about Chaucer ○ ●

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