Paper #1: The First Fragment (General Prologue, Knight's Tale, Miller's Tale, Reeve's Tale, Cook's Tale)

This paper should develop out of a close reading of a 10-20 line long passage which you find particularly interesting or problematic. Analyze the passage as fully as you can, considering not only its content, but its tone, mood, and function. Why is it written the way it is? What is it doing where it is? Who is speaking? What difference does this make? Does the passage refer back or forward to other moments in the text? What is the effect of such references? Think about the language of the text: is it simple? elaborate? why? why not? Are there words with double meanings, jokes, puns? Do certain words mean other things in other contexts? Remember that there is a rather full glossary at the back of the Riverside Chaucer. If you have been keeping a vocabulary list, as recommended, this may help you too. Present your findings about your chosen passage in the form of a carefully structured essay 4-6 pages long, with an introduction and conclusion.

The topics below suggest productive areas of text for you to think about, but if you would like to consider something else, just clear it with me first.

• So far we have read tales by 4 of the pilgrims, the Knight, Miller, Reeve and Cook. Read the portrait of one of these carefully against his tale. Is the tale what you expect of the teller, or not? Why?
• The "theatre" built by Theseus in the Knight's Tale contains temples sacred to 3 divinities, Venus, Mars and Diana, which are described in great detail. Choose one of these and explore its meaning.
• Choose one of the character portraits (Nicholas, Alisoun, Absalon) from the Miller's Tale and read it closely. You may want to consider how it responds to (quites) the Knight's Tale, but you need not go this route if you can develop a reading of the portrait in the context of the Miller's Tale alone.
• Do the same with one of the portraits (Symkyn, his wife, Malyn) from the Reeve's Tale. Again, you may read back to the Miller's or Knight's Tales, but you need not.
• Attempt a close reading of the Cook's Tale. It's a fragment, of course, but you may want to consider the implications of its very fragmentariness. Does it continute the progression (or perhaps one should say degradation) of narrative through the Knight's, Miller's, and Reeve's Tales?
• What do you make of Harry Bailly? To what extent does "oure Hoost" control the narrative so far? What is his agenda? What does his control or lack of control do to our sense of authorial voice?
• Emelye is a courtly lady, Alysoun a carpenter's wife; how are they alike? How different? Does either of them have agency within the tale? What does a comparison between them reveal about the function of women in the Chaucerian universe? Don't lose sight of who is telling which tale...

This paper is due on Wednesday February 17 by 5:00, in my office at 203 Woodside.