Week 11 Flashcards
How does The Pardoner’s Take exemplify the theme Radix Malorum est Cupiditas stated at the beginning of The Pardoner’s Prologue?
The three gamblers die because of their greed (cupiditas) = they embody greed.
Allegory in The Pardoner’s Tale
- Personification
- The old man
- Shared Christian doctrine
- The beatific vision of God
- Blasphemous murder scene
• consumption of bread and wine (= last supper, Eucharist)
• Stabbing of youngest rascal (= Christ on cross)
By means of allegory, what does the consumption of bread and wine represent in The Pardoner’s Tale?
Last supper, Eucharist
By means of allegory, what does the stabbing of the youngest rascal represent?
Stabbing of Christ on cross.
Exemplum
Concrete example that illustrates abstract point made before, and needs to be generalised (e.g. Stilboun).
Or a little story that illustrates a general truth. However, it is not a genre.
Allegory
Signifies something else, needs to be translated (e.g. heap of gold), and relies on doctrine shared by author and audience.
On which two levels does allegory exist?
- Literal = what figure does in narrative, e.g. crooked path
- Symbolic = what figure stands for, outside narrative, e.g. sin
What is allegory a technique for?
- Training lawyers (saying one thing and meaning another)
- Reading and interpreting Bible (different levels of meaning in Holy Spirit)
- Reading and interpreting literary texts
In medieval literature, what are external references needed to understand sentence?
- Letter: linguistic construction
- Sense: literal, surface meaning
- Sentence: deeper, ‘spiritual’ meaning
In medieval literature, external references can be…
- Imagery, figurative language (fabliau)
- Symbolism (romances)
- Allegory (stock allegorical symbols)
How does the medieval world think of allegorical interpretation?
Everything must make sense as it expresses God’s plan
Four levels of scriptural interrogation of Holy Scripture
- Literal level: teaches what happened
- Allegorical level: teaches what to believe
- Moral (tropological) level: teaches how to act and live (present)
- Analogical level: teaches what to hope for (future)
How is ‘greed’ implemented in Chaucer’s work?
- Theme for Pardoner’s exemplum
- Sin committed by Pardoner
What does Chaucer criticise in The Pardoner’s Tale?
Clergy
How is allegory used as a literary tool in the Pardoner and his Tale?
Textual interpretation and instruction.