Chaucer, Ethics, and Gender

This book makes a vigorous reassessment of the moral dimension in Chaucer's writings. For the Middle Ages, the study of human behaviour generally signified the study of the morality of attitudes, choices, and actions. Moreover, moral analysis was not gender neutral: it presupposed that certain virtues and certain failings were largely gender-specific. Alcuin Blamires - mainly concentrating on The Canterbury Tales - discloses how Chaucer adapts the composite inheritedtraditions of moral literature to shape the significance and the gender implications of his narratives. Chaucer, Ethics, and Gend.

List of Abbreviations; Contents; Introduction; 1. Fellowship and Detraction in the Architecture of the Canterbury Tales: from 'The General Prologue' and 'The Knight's Tale' to 'The Parson's Prologue'; 2. Credulity and Vision: 'The Miller's Tale', 'The Merchant's Tale', 'The Wife of Bath's Tale'; 3. Sex and Lust: 'The Merchant's Tale', 'The Reeve's Tale', and other Tales; 4. The Ethics of Sufficiency: 'The Man of Law's Introduction' and 'Tale'; 'The Shipman's Tale'; 5. Liberality: 'The Wife of Bath's Prologue' and 'Tale' and 'The Franklin's Tale'

6. Problems of Patience and Equanimity: 'The Franklin's Tale', 'The Clerk's Tale', 'The Nun's Priest's Tale'7. Men, Women, and Moral Jurisdiction: 'The Friar's Tale', 'The Physician's Tale', and the Pardoner; 8. Proprieties of Work and Speech: 'The Second Nun's Prologue' and 'Tale', 'The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue' and 'Tale', 'The Manciple's Prologue' and 'Tale', and 'The Parson's Prologue'; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.