Chaucer Critic And Context Flashcards
Merchant's Tale
(Brunner) ‘Merchantile logic… leads to a breakdown of…
…human relations’ (Brunner)
(Brunner) ‘Underscoring the devious and secretive first impression of this pilgrim and…
…firmly establishing him as an unreliable narrator’ (Brunner)
(Hathaway) ‘The real ‘snare’ in this raucous tale is not marriage…
…but the prison of his own desire that he has constructed around himself’ (Hathaway)
(Shores) ‘Cynical condemnation of…
…courtly convention’ (Shores)
(King) ‘His natural habitat is indoors; he loses control…
…when the action moves to the garden’ (King)
(Tolliver) ‘His misery and resulting hatred…
… could be likened to buying a faulty product’ (Tolliver)
(Harrington) ‘we are left with a disturbing notion that a level of happiness is…
…possible through folly and self-deception’ (Harrington)
(Hoffman) ‘Because of Eve’s sin, women were thought to be carnal and decetiful […] and the source of…
…the world’s problems. If a man lusted, it was always the women’s fault’ (Hoffman)
define Nomenclature
Act of naming something/someone.
define Misogamous
Hatred of marriage
define Prolepsis
Asking a rhetorical question that’s then answered by the asker
define Interjection
‘O’ or ‘Ah’ at the beginning of a line
define Periphrasis
Extended description (big words use) often followed by bathos and is used to break up the narrative
define Traductio
Previous metaphor that becomes reality
define The burlesque
Exaggerated imitation for comedy
define Parody
A mocking intimidation of a style of literature
define Euphemism
Word or phrase that softens an uncomfortable topic
define Apostrophe
Speech addressed to someone or something that’s not present
define Pathos
Evokes great pity or sadness from the audience
define Masculine and feminine rhyme ending
Masculine rhyme ending have one syllable and are stressed. Feminine rhyme endings have two or more syllables and are unstressed
define Senex Amans
Translated as ‘amorous old man’ - his lustful desire for a youthful, ill-matched wife makes him a source of ridicule
define Iambic Pentameter
‘stressed, unstressed’ syllables x5
define Feudalism
A social structure and hierarchy
define Fabliau
a type of burlesque with lustful women and foolish men. Told in verse, they were coarse, crude and often very cynical about the characters of women. They stemmed from folklore and allusion.
define Courtly Love
In literature only romance could be found outside marriage - followed strict rules, combined with the Code of Chivalry
define (Mock) Heroic Couplets
AABBCC rhyme scheme mocked in the fabliau
(Ackroyd) ‘battle of supremacy between…
…husband and wife’ (Ackroyd)
(Ackroyd) ‘notion of authority…
…seems to be parodied’ (Ackroyd)
define pashtiche
imitation of an art style
around when were the Canterbury tales written
1387-1400
describe the turbulent times Chaucer was writing in
England was engaged in the hundred year war, there were bad harvests (= peasants revolt) and the black death had wiped out 1/3 of europe’s population
describe Chaucers career marriage to Phillipa Roet
the married in 1366 there marriage is more recently deemed as a career marriage they lived apart and there were rumours that Phillpa had a lover
when did phillipa die and how did Chaucer react
1387 - Chaucer publicly vowed to never marry again
how did the black death effect england
in 1348 between half and a third of the population were dead, this only increases social mobility and lead to the peasant’s revolt in 1381
define Petrarchan lover
a literary convention - a melodramatic, self-consciously suffering lover, under the power of his mistress
what was the overarching purpose of the Fabliau
to trivialise medieval society, particularly mocking glorified knights and the church
who was Chaucers contemporary audience
the medieval aristocracy
describe St Jerome’s anti-feminist thoughts
women were daughter’s of Eve and therefore should be held responsible for the loss of paradise and should be punished accordingly
changing purpose of marriage at this time
marriage was moving away from the church and towards more mercantile ideals of inheritance and career mariages
how did Boccaccio’s ‘The Decameron’ inspire the pear tree scene
a wife states that whoever climbs up the tree will see people making love on the ground, the husband climbs the tree and sees the wife and her lover on the floor
how did ‘Roman de la rose’ inspire the garden
A similar garden which the courtly lover searched through for his love (as a rose) where she remains unattainable. That Januarie attempts to reproduce this marks his hubris and sinfulness
how did ‘Le Miroir De Marriage’ by Eustache Deschamps inspire the marriage debate
old man debating about whether he should marry with three friends - a long epistle full or misogynous undertones
what was the youngest age girls could be married off
12
how did the church view marriage
a means for regulating sexual activity and controlling carnal desire - St Augustine stated that ‘passionate love of one’s own wife is adultery’
What kind of family did Chaucer come from
a merchant family
