Chaucer’s Women: Nuns, Wives and Amazons

271 Pages·1996·60.47 MB·English

by  Priscilla Martin (auth.)

CHAUCER'S WOMEN
Also by Priscilla Martin and published by Palgrm'e Macmillan
PIERS PLOWMAN: The Field and the Tower
SHAKESPEARE, TROrWS AND CRESSrDA (Casebook) (editor)
Chaucer's Women
Nuns, Wives and Amazons
Priscilla Martin
© Priscilla Mnrlin 1990. 1996
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or tr.msmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragr.lph of this puhlication may be reproduced. copied or
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the provisions of the Copyright. Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under The tl.""rms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued hy the Cvpyright Licensing Agency, 90 Touenham Coun
Ro~d. London WI P 9HE.
Any person who docs any unauthorised act in rel:ltion to this
puhlication may be liable 10 criminal prosecution and civil
claims for uamages.
First edition 1990
Reprinted (with alterations) 1996
Published by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
'·loundrnills. Basingstokc. Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
C0fl1p3nie~ and representatives
throughoullhe world
ISBN 978-0-333-64142-2 ISBN 978-0-230-37863-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230378636
A <:alalogue rcrord for this book is availahle
ff()m the British Lihrary.
10 \) H 7 6 5 4 3 2 J
OS 04 03 02 01 00 99 9R 97 96
III memory
of two friends wllo talked and wrote about CI1a!lcer
William Frost
arid
Paula Neuss

Contents
A ckilOwlcrl;.:tllll'/II;; viii
I.iM of AbbrCU;lIli(>11S
I'(('fllce IH tllC 1996 Rel'm!/ ,i
/lllrodm"/1011 xii
! The Man with the Book, or 'Who Painted the LI(ln~'
2 Two Ideals: The 0(11111' and the Duchess 14
3 Two Misfits: The Nun and the Wife )0
4 The Arnazon ilnd the Wise Woman, or 'Cod Knows
What She Thought' 40
:; The Merchandise of Love: Winners and Wasters 66
6 The Merchandise (If Love: Wives i1nd Merch,mts X4
i [{('ill Women in Imaginary Gardens 106
M The Saints 131
9 Criscydl~ 156
l() The Women in the (~ooks Hi9
II Sex, Discourse imd Silence '"
NIlII's 231
lur/ex
vii
Acknowledgements
In writing this book I have been generally indebted to the
Chaucerian scholarship of this century and to the theoretical
debates and feminist criticism of recent years. I have been
particularly helped and stimulated by my association with various
universities and my discussions with individual friends. I should
like to thank my colleagues and students at the University of
California. Santa Barbara, and at the Univer$ily of Washington,
Seattle, for providing vital stimulation and support for the project. I
am also grateful to the University of California at Riverside and at
hvine the University of Edinburgh, the Japanese Society for
Medieval English L.-mguage and Literature, King's College London,
the University of London Old and Middle English Research
Seminar, the Medieval Association of the Pacific, the Medieval
Colloquium of North-Western Universities at the University of
Washington, the University of Puget Sound and Simon Fraser
University for invitations to speak about Chaucer's women and for
providing opportunities for discussion. Elizabeth Allen, Nola-Jean
Bamherry, Peter Conradi, Janet Cowen, Elizabeth Simmons
O'Neill very nobly criticised parts of the book in manuscript and I
owe much to their patience and perception. Carla Copenhaven,
Brian Patrick McGuire and Leroy Perkins generously allowed me to
read unpublished papers, which helped me greatly, and I found
continuous enlightenment in Elizabeth Simmons-O'Neill's PhD
dissertation. Debts to this material are acknowledged in the notes.
Conversations with Derek Brewer, Sheila Delany, David Fowler,
Martin Friedman, William Frost, Richard Helgerson, Anne Kernan,
Leroy Perkins and Miceal Vaughan clarified my thoughts and
cheered me up. Anna Baldwin, Malcolm Bradbury and Judith
Peacock gave precious help and advice in the final stages.
VIII
List of Abbreviations
Works by Chaucer
AA Aile/ida find Arcite
BD Book of the Duchess
cr
C,,,lerbu,y Tales
HF House of Fame
LGW tegem( of Good Womer'
PF Parliament of Fowls
RR Romance of the Rose
TC TroihlS and Criseyde
Periodicals
AnM AlIl1uale Mediaevale
CE Col/egl: Ellg/isl!
CIIR ehal/eer Review
ElE English Institute Essays
HH 1011 mal of Englisll Lilerary History
[S f)'glish Studies
fEGP JOllmal of Englisll and Germanic Philology
IMRS IOllrnal of Medieval and Renaissance $tudirs
MA Medillm Aevllm
MLN Modern Language Noles
MU{ Modern Language Review
MP Modern Plli/ology
MS Medieval Studies
N&Q Noles and Queries
NM Neuplrilologische Millei/ungen
PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association of
America
PQ Philological Quarterly
RES Review of E/lglisll Studies
ix