Index

A

Adams, J. F., 206 n

Aeneas, 48 ;

in underworld, 185 ;

wanderings of, and pilgrimage in Comedy , 191

Aeneid :

idea of Rome in, 191 ;

intertextuality with Comedy , 191 ;

and literary autobiography, 19 ;

Polydorus in, 186 –87;

story of, in House of Fame , 27 ;

style personified in Virgil of Comedy , 20 ;

tragic view of life, 191 ;

and vision of history in, 20 .

See also Epic; Genre; History; Intertextuality; Tragedy; Virgil

Alan of Lille, 61 ;

Sophia in Anticlaudianus , 53 n

Alberigo, frate :

episode discussed, 210 –11

Allegory:

allegoria in verbis and allegoria in facto , 57 , 57 n;

in Canterbury Tales :

pilgrims' self-duplication as tale-tellers, 63 ;

discussed in Convivio , 7 ;

and the four levels of medieval scriptural interpretation, 56 ;

as "God's way of writing," 56 ;

Hollander on, in Canterbury Tales and Comedy , 56 , 56 n;

Petrarchan:

literal sacrificed for tropical, 16 ;

as province of Church, 258 ;

thematized in Clerk's and Merchant's Tales, 63 .

See also Literal meaning; Metaphor; Troping

Allegory in Comedy :

absence of metaphysical framework in, 103 ;

authority figures in, 103 ;

clash of different perspectives in, 103 , 103 n;

and Dragon of Error in Faerie Queene , 102 ;

experiencing subject central in, 61 ;

inconsistency in, 102 ;

primacy of literal level in, 7 ;

principles of, summarized, 101 –104;

role of literal level in, 101 –2;

self-duplication of Poet and Pilgrim in, 63 , 63 n;

terms of, as having dual reference, 61

Allen, D. C.:

on rehabilitation of Epicurus, 255 , 255 n, 256 n

Allen, Judson B., 98 n

Angelini, Cesare, 190 , 190 n

Anglo-Italian cultural relations, 2

Animal-human duality, 77 ;

in Nun's Priest's Tale, 97

Animal nature, 7 , 84

Animals, 98 ;

and anima mal nata as wordplay, 210 n;

eagle in House of Fame , 28 , 33 , 35 , 37 ;

enviable skills of, 92 ;

falcon, 76 –78, 83 ;

as in God's image, 93 , 96 , 99 ;

human superiority to, denied, 92 ;

importance of, in Comedy and Canterbury Tales , 210 n;

instinctive knowledge of, 98 ;

in Nun's Priest's Tale, 90 –92;

spider, 69 ;

three beasts in Inferno I, 157 ;

in Ugolino's dream, 157 –58.

See also Omnis creatura

Arachne:

and Comedy 's allegorical plot, 69 ;

and Geryon, 68 ;

and Heraclitus's image of soul, 69 n;

in Metamorphoses , 69 ;

spider's-web design of Inferno and cosmos, 69 –70

Arcite:

death of, 125 ;

funeral of, 126 ;

and pattern of tragedy, 125 ;

soul of, after death, 197 .

See also Knight's Tale

Aristotle, 60 , 60 n;

on dramatic character of Homer's epics, 7 ;

hylomorphism and Dante's theory of allegory, 59 ;

Nicomachean Ethics and organization of Inferno , 151 ;

Poetics in Latin translation available to Dante, 183 n

Armour, Peter, 223 n

Arthurian Round Table, 49

Audience:

Clerk and his, 225 –27, 237 , 243 ;

effect of, on style, 36 ;

imagined and implied, in Canterbury Tales , 36 ;

Merchant and his, 263 ;

pilgrims as, 116

Audiences:

Chaucer's, 35 –36;

discussed by Paul Strohm, 35 n

Augustine, Saint, 124 –25, 212 , 212 n;

City of God , 197 ;

on human autonomy and providential history, 141 –42, 142 n;

on Samson's death, 166 , 166 n;

on theater as demonic, 115 , 115 n

Autobiography:

and Dantean subject in Comedy , 111 –16;

literary, in Aeneid , 19 , 41 ;

literary, in Canterbury Tales , 41

Autopragía :

self-determination as Stoic ideal, 165 , 166

B

Bagpipe, 136 nn;

and etymology of persona , 137 ;

Guillaume de Machaut on, 136 ;

like the Miller, 136 –37

Bakhtin, Mikhail, 5 n, 36 ;

on carnival spirit, 31 ;

on dialogism, 226 , 226 n

Baldwin, Ralph:

on Parson's Tale, 88 n

Barbi, Michele, 2 n

Barish, Jonas, 115 n;

quoted, 125

Bataille, Georges, 262 ;

quoted, 17

Beatrice, 1 ;

accusatory to Pilgrim, 240 n;

and dream of Siren, 240 ;

nonallegorical, 241 ;

refers to her own death, 222 ;

reunion with Pilgrim, 24 , 24 n, 222 –23, 241 –42;

and Song of Songs, 252 .

See also Earthly Paradise; Harrison; Vita Nuova ; Wife of Bath

Bennett, J. A. W., 33 , 34 n;

on stylistic levels in Chaucer's poetry, 28 n

Bennett, Richard and John Elton, 133 n

Bernardo, Aldo S., 234 n

Bible:

and Dantean allegory, 56 –58;

as epic of creator, 34 ;

Epistle to Corinthians, 49 , 212 ;

Epistle to Romans, 81 , 94 –95;

and four levels of meaning, 56 ;

Genesis and enigma of human image, 5 –6, 72 ;

and "God's way of writing," 56 –57;

gospels, 176 , 195 , 204 ;

Luke, 94 ;

Matthew, 94 ;

Psalm 113 , 57 .

See also Allegory; Song of Songs

Bietenholz, Peter G., 150 n

Bleeth, Kenneth A., 249 n

Bloom, Harold, 230 n;

on troping as defense against death, 15

Boccaccio, Giovanni, 209 , 256 n;

Decameron , 14 , 14 n, 145 n, 223 , 263 –64;

De Casibus , 14 , 145 n;

discussion of Saturn myth, 155 –57, 156 n;

Filocolo , 25 ;

on Proteus, 71 n;

public lectures on Inferno , 14 , 157 n, 203 n;

Teseida , 124 nn, 127 , 127 n

Bocca degli Abati:

episode discussed, 178 –81;

Pilgrim and poetic violence, 180 –81

Body, 16 ;

ascribed to pilgrims in Canterbury Tales , 10 ;

Beatrice and Wife of Bath, 222 –23;

child as symbol of, in Merchant's Tale, 262 ;

in Dantean allegory, 10 , 11 –12, 16 ;

disgust at, 240 ;

Griffin and chariot as symbols of, 223 ;

Robert Harrison's Body of Beatrice discussed, 12 ;

and human image in Comedy , 82 ;

individual and collective, 210 , 210 n;

as "mode of belonging to the world," 10 –11;

in Petrarchan allegory, 15 ;

in Prioress's Tale, 100 ;

and reader's empathy, 12 , 13 ;

and redefinition of epic decorum, 264 ;

redemption of, 82 , 95 ;

retained by Pilgrim in otherworld, 11 , 84 , 102 , 112 –13;

revenge of, in Summoner's Tale,

216 ;

sacramentalization of, in Comedy , 252 ;

and St. Paul's soma and sarx , 81 ;

and secret of eroticism, 17 ;

soma as bilingual pun, 11 ;

textually unrepresentable, 10 , 12 , 82 .

See also Allegory; Dualism; Epic theater; Eroticism; Song of Songs; Soul

Boenig, Robert, 136 n

Boethius:

Consolation of Philosophy , 199 ;

Consolation as representative of pagan philosophy, 123 n;

dialogue with Philosophy in Consolation , 62 ;

on etymology of persona , 137 .

See also Fortune; History; Monk's Tale; Person; Pickering

Book of the Duchess , 28 , 55

Bosco, Umberto, 225 n

Brewer, D. S., 41 n

Bronson, Bertrand, 236 n

Brown, Emerson, 255 n

Bruns, Gerald, 10 –11

Burrow, J. A., 86 n;

on Chaucerian parody, 43

C

Cannibalism, 122 ;

and allusion to Seneca's Thyestes , 155 n;

in Monk's "Ugolino," 151 ;

as motif in Inferno , 152 n;

and Saturn devouring his offspring, 155 –57;

in Ugolino episode, 151 –2

Canterbury Tales :

as actors, 10 , 211 , 213 ;

as anthology, 18 ;

like characters in Purgatorio , 5 ;

conceptual unity of, 18 ;

as continuation of Dantean epic, 4 ;

as "liminoid" authority in, 31 ;

as masks for narrator, 32 ;

narrator in, 31 , 32 ;

persona in, 51 ;

pilgrimage in, and the Now of reading, 33 ;

pilgrim fellowship as implied audience in, 31 ;

pilgrims:

as actors, 10 , 211 , 213 ;

like play-within-a-play, 14 ;

as popular epic, 41 ;

as spiritual autobiography, 33 ;

tales:

as confessions, 210 ;

Thopas and tale as "mirror," 43 -44;

as "work-in-progress," 19

Carlson, Marvin, 106 n

Carraro, Annalisa, 144 n

Category mistakes:

in Nun's Priest's Tale, 90 , 93 , 93 n

Cato:

as bridge between Inferno and Purgatorio , 172 –73, 173 n;

and the problem of freedom, 169 –70;

a "Senecan" subtext in Purgatorio , 170 –71.

See also Stoicism; Suicide; Tragedy

Character:

and actual persons, 81 , 117 ;

composed of antithetical elements, 133 ;

concept discussed, 8 –10;

and Ginsberg on pilgrims "twice-formed," 9 ;

and mask, 136 ;

of Miller, and two Robins, 134 ;

personality of pilgrims, 8 ;

physical appearance and question of, 118 –19;

Singleton on Pilgrim as individuated, 112 ;

and traditional criticism, 8 ;

and use of "gaps" for reader to "realize the text," 13 –14;

and voice as other, 137 .

See also Epic Theater; Theater

Chaucer the man, 2 , 3

Chaucer the pilgrim:

personality of, 117 , 118 ;

physical appearance of, 118 ;

"What man artow?", 40 , 41

Chaucer the poet:

career of, 37 –43;

conversion of, to Dantean poetic, 39 ;

described by Man of Law, 37 –38;

epic persona of, 50 –51;

as minstrel, 40 ;

as narrator of Thopas , 41

Chauntecleer, 99 –101;

and Cusanus, 98 n;

imitatio Christi of, 93 –94.

See also Animals; Dreams; Nun's Priest's Tale

Chenu, M.-D., 143 n

Children:

in Clerk's Tale, 228 –29, 230 n, 231 –4;

in Hunger Tower and in Limbo, 153 –54;

in Merchant's Tale, 261 –62, 264 ;

emphasis on, in Monk's Tale, 158 –59;

in Prioress's Tale, 99 , 100

Childs, Wendy, 2

Christianity:

and literature, 21 –24;

and Statius in Comedy , 22 –24

Cicero, 168 , 256 n;

on meaning of name Saturn, 156 , 156 n;

on persona , 138 –39;

quoted on translatio , 78

Claudian:

De Raptu Proserpinae and Merchant's Tale, 259 –60

Clerk:

like actor, 237 ;

ambivalent attitude to Petrarch, 226 –28;

Envoy

of, and Wife of Bath, 16 , 237 –40;

learns by his performance, 240 ;

and Petrarchan dread of death, 238 ;

and Petrarchan Rezeptionsgeschichte , 224 –25;

as Petrarch disciple, 223

Clerk's Envoy:

and Now of pilgrimage, 237 ;

and Petrarchan dread of death, 238 ;

Wife of Bath vs. Griselda, 240

Clerk's Tale:

as critique of Petrarchism, 229 ;

and dream of Siren, 239 ;

epilogue, 237 ;

as farewell to Petrarchan idealism, 237 –39;

and fear of death, 15 ;

Griselda and Laura in, 229 ;

Griselda blameworthy in, 230 –31;

and Latin original, 224 –25;

narrative stance in, 227 ;

Petrarchan allegory in, 235 –36;

and poetic conversion, 222 ;

and question of allegory, 15 ;

as site of ideological clash, 221 –40;

and Wife of Bath, 222 .

See also Allegory; Death; Marriage; Petrarch

Comedia :

as title and designation of generic mode, 66 –67, 67 n, 75

Comedy , 1 ;

allegorical plot of, 6 ;

not antiquarian, 40 ;

as dialogue with Aeneid , 20 ;

and dialogue with Virgil, 24 ;

and embodied pilgrim in, 11 –12;

as example of philosophic poetry, 146 ;

individual and community in, 5 , 21 ;

moral ambiguity in, 178 ;

narrator of, in variety of roles, 114 ;

otherworld setting:

and allegory, 56 ;

overcomes self-alienation, 115 ;

Pilgrim:

as center of, 32 ;

and recuperation of Song of Songs, 252 –59;

as sung and spoken, 75 ;

and unvisualized landscape of Canterbury pilgrimage, 32

Comparetti, Domenico, 20 n

Confession:

in Friar's Tale, 206 –7;

Minos and, 209 –10;

parody of, in Summoner's Tale, 217 –18

Contini, Gianfranco, 155 n

Contrapasso , 204 , 221 ;

and confession, 209 –10;

defined, 15 , 209 –10;

and frate Alberigo, 205 ;

Minos, 209 –10, 210 n;

as self-condemnation, 15 .

See also Confession; Inferno ; Minos; Sin

Convivio , 101 ;

discussion of allegory, 58 –61;

on Epicureans and Stoics, 256 , 256 n;

Isidore of Seville on title of, 86 n

Cosmic theater, 7 ;

in Comedy , 8 ;

"cosmogonic" in Nun's Priest's Tale, 99 ;

and heavenly audience in Comedy , 110 –11;

in Seneca, 168 , 168 n

Crucifix:

in Nun's Priest's Tale, 97

Crucifixion, 262 ;

and cannibalism, 155 , 155 n;

Chauntecleer's, 93 ;

in Clerk's Tale, 231 , 235 ;

"Croesus" and parody of, 97 , 159 ;

and history in Monk's Tale, 193 ;

and Lucifer in Inferno , 194 –95, 195 n;

in Merchant's Tale, 262 ;

in "Nero," 175 –76

Curtius, E. R., 124 n

D

Dahlberg, C. R., 93 n

Dante:

influence on Chaucer, 3 –4;

a "literal," 113 , 114 ;

Monk's tribute to, 159 ;

named, 37 , 140 ;

as poet-philosopher-theologian, 153 ;

political defeat and exile of, 1

Dantean poetic, 40

David, Alfred, 25 n;

on House of Fame as mock-epic, 26 , 26 n

Death, 235 ;

of Beatrice, 239 ;

in Clerk's Prologue and Tale, 226 , 228 , 230 , 233 –34, 238 ;

and eroticism, 17 ;

as extramental reality, 230 ;

fantasy of triumph over, 234 ;

fear of, and allegory, 15 ;

of Laura, 235 n;

as literal meaning, 15 ;

love as, in Clerk's Tale, 233 –34;

marriage as, in Merchant's Tale, 260 ;

marriage as escape from, in Merchant's Tale, 260

Deconstruction, 160 , 174 , 199 ;

of hell, 153 , 155 , 177 , 178 –81, 209 , 210 n

de Ghellink, Joseph, 143 n, 144 n

Delany, Paul, 245 n

de Man, Paul, 102 , 102 n;

on allegory and Baudelaire's essay on comedy, 62 , 62 n;

"Rhetoric of Blindness" quoted, 74 , 74 nn, 75 , 75 n, 76 , 76 n;

"Rhetoric of Temporality" quoted, 62 , 63 , 63 n

De Monarchia :

quoted on terrestrial paradise, 96

Derrida, Jacques, 40 , 75 n;

on

metaphor's resistance to translation, 73 n;

paraphrase of Plato, 36

Deschamps, Eustache, 86 n;

Miroir de Mariage , 245

Deus absconditus :

in Monk's Tale, 159

Dialogic double:

in Canterbury Tales , 63 ;

in Comedy , Virgil as, 64 .

See also Allegory; Masks

Dialogue:

over monologue in Melibee , 52 ;

as "therapeutic" in allegory, 62 –63

Dialogues, Plato's:

and portrait of Socrates, 50 –51;

Symposium described, 86 , 86 n

Dinshaw, Carolyn, 15 n

Donaldson, E. T., 32 n;

on moral of Nun's Priest's Tale, 91 –92

Donovan, M. J., 93 n, 259

Drama. See Theater

Dreamer:

in Comedy , 27 ;

disoriented, 27 ;

in House of Fame :

addressed as Geffrey, 37 ;

outsider, 28 –29

Dreams, 27 , 28 , 64 , 88 –89, 95 , 260 ;

Croesus's, in Monk's Tale, 149 , 159 , 160 ;

Geryon as, 65 ;

Phania and Pertelote as interpreters of, 149 n;

of Siren in Purgatorio , 239 –40;

Ugolino's, 157 –58

Dronke, Peter, 223 n

Dualism:

and Dantean allegory, 7 ;

and Petrarchan "double consciousness," 233 ;

and Pier della Vigna, 185 –90

Dwyer, Richard A., 147 n

E

Earthly Paradise, 17 , 96 , 150 ;

Beatrice calls Dante's name in, 241 ;

extratextual dimension of characters in, 241 ;

and January's garden, 262 ;

procession in, 150 , 151 ;

and Virgil's Eclogues, 24 n;

wedding procession in, 242 .

See also Eroticism; Merchant's Tale; Song of Songs

Edward the Confessor, 143 –44

Elam, Keir:

on "ostended" world of drama, 108 –109

Else, Gerald F.:

commentary on Aristotle's Poetics quoted, 106

England in fourteenth century, 2

Engle, Lars, 226 n

Epic, 109 ;

defined, 19 –20;

line of descent of, 21 ;

and "monologism," 5 n;

poet of, as textor, 20 , 69 ;

as renewal of past, 29 –30;

transformation of, in Comedy , 21 ;

and twofold history, 19 .

See also Genre

Epic theater:

in Canterbury Tales , 8 ;

in Comedy , 7 –8;

complements allegory, 7 ;

"gap" between General Prologue and tale, 116 –17;

and narrative theatricality, 10 ;

portraitless Nun's Priest and, 118 –19;

roadside stage, 116 ;

teller's relations to tale, 10 , 116 –17;

ways of presenting characters, 109 –10.

See also Character; Theater

Epicurus:

philosopher of Garden, 255 –56

Eroticism, 17 , 251 , 261 ;

ambivalent attitude to, in Merchant's Tale, 244 –46;

and Comedy , 252 ;

and January's wedding, 254 ;

opposition to, 251 ;

secret of, 262 ;

tradition of, 255 .

See also Earthly Paradise; Song of Songs

Evanthius:

De Fabula quoted, 106

F

Fairies:

in Merchant's Tale, 261 ;

queen of, in Wife of Bath's Tale, 260 ;

in Wife of Bath's Tale, 208 .

See also Pluto and Proserpina

Fame, 180 , 189 ;

and epic, 25 .

See also House of Fame

Fart:

Barbariccia's and Summoner's Tale, 218 ;

as demonic, 131 n;

friar reduced to, 214 ;

Nicholas's and Barbariccia's, 129 –130.

See also Language

Fathers, 97 , 155 , 158 , 176 , 213 n, 235 ;

Christ as, in Clerk's Tale, 231 ;

and Lucifer, 195 –96;

and "temptation in wilderness" in Nun's Priest's Tale, 94

Ferguson, Francis:

on Purgatorio as theatrical, 111 n

Ferrante, Joan, 48 n, 53 n, 151 n, 248 n

Flemings, 49 , 91 n, 93

Fortune, 122 , 146 –49, 197 ;

in Monk's Tale, 146 , 157 , 160 , 173 –74;

and Senecan tragedy, 161 ;

as sexual monster, 244 .

See also Boethius; History; Tragedy

Francis of Assisi, Saint:

bridegroom of

Poverty in Paradiso , 50 n;

St. Bonaventure's Life of, 50 n

Frappier, Jean, 122 n

Freccero, John, 4 , 191 n, 193 n, 234 n

Frederick II, emperor, 182 , 205

Freud, Sigmund, 206 n

Friar:

compared to frate Alberigo, 205 –6;

and confession, 206 ;

and contrapasso , 15 , 201 –4, 211 ;

and friars in Wife of Bath's Tale, 208 .

See also Summoner

Friars, 203 n, 208 ;

"covent" of, as symbol, 219 ;

in Inferno , 205 –6

Friar's Tale, 202 –8

Frye, Northrop, 34 , 34 n

Fubini, Mario, 191 n, 192

Furie infernal , 126 ;

and Arcite's fall, 125

G

Game:

tale-telling as, 31 , 42 , 120 ;

as play-acting, 134

Gardens:

frate Alberigo's, 206 ;

Friar's, 206 ;

in Merchant's Tale, 254 –58;

in "Nero," 174 –76.

See also Epicurus; January; Priapus; Roman de la Rose

Gasché, Rodolphe, 73 n

Gauvin, Claude, 116 n

General Prologue, 31 , 42 ;

characterization of pilgrims in, 9 , 14 ;

as "dramatis personae," 116 ;

standards of judgment in, 12 –13

Genre, 4 , 5 , 7 , 19 , 41 , 44 , 88 , 105 , 140 ;

court satire, 35 , 35 n;

fabliau, 18 ;

fairytale, 44 ;

miracle of the Virgin, 99 ;

mock-epic, 26 ;

saint's life, 143 ;

"secular scripture" as epic of the creature, 34 ;

symposium, 86

Geryon, 6 , 7 , 64 –84;

as allegorical knot, 63 ;

amphibiousness of, 73 ;

and Baudelaire's theory of comic, 77 ;

and Comedy 's textuality, 69 ;

conclusion analyzed, 76 –78;

defines allegorical plot, 73 ;

as emblem of fraud, 67 –68, 70 ;

and falcon simile, 76 –79, 83 –84;

and genesis of Comedy , 65 ;

meaning of name, 65 ;

as metaphor, 78 –79;

and Pilgrim's "fall," 65 ;

and poetic autobiogenesis, 65 , 65 n;

like Proteus in Odyssey , 71 ;

and soul allegory, 77 , 77 n;

Virgil familiar with, 68 –69;

and wordplay, 65 –67

Gilson, Étienne, 142 n

Ginsberg, Warren, 9

Giovanni da Legnano, 226 n

Goddes Pryvetee , 130 , 131

Gods, 110 , 124 , 159 ;

above Theseus's amphitheater, 121 ;

in Aeneid , 191 ;

Bacchus, 254 ;

called "false and lying" by Virgil in Comedy , 21 ;

as demonic in Knight's Tale, 125 ;

demythologized in "Croesus," 149 , 159 ;

do not intervene in human affairs, 168 ;

as guardians of cosmos, 168 ;

Hymen, 254 ;

Morpheus, 27 ; in Senecan tragedy, 161 –62, 163 ;

as witnesses of earthly affairs, 8 .

See also Pluto and Proserpina; Priapus; Proteus; Saturn; Venus

Goldman, Michael, 115 , 115 n

Golenistcheff-Koutouzoff, Eli, 224 n

Grail knights, 122

Greene, Thomas, 108 , 237 n

Griffin, 150 ;

anticipates paradisal vision, 83 ;

as Geryon figure, 82 .

See also Earthly Paradise

Griffin, Miriam T., 165 n, 168 n

Gross, Kenneth, 103 , 103 n

Guillelmus de Moerbeka, 106 , 106 n

H

Haas, Renate, 108 n, 161 n

Hamon, Philippe, 9 n

Harder, K. B., 134 , 134 n

Hardie, Colin, 22 n, 57 n;

quoted on Pilgrim's vegetative and animal souls, 83

Harpies, 190 , 190 n

Harrison, Robert P., 223 n;

on Beatrice as key to Dante's poetics, 12 ;

on "Petrarchan alternative," 239 , 239 nn

Havelock, Eric, 107 , 107 n

Havely, Nicholas, 25 n

Hercules, 166 ;

in Boccaccio's Genealogie , 156 ;

in Hercules Furens , 162 –64;

and suicide, 164 .

See also Monk's Tale; Seneca; Tragedy

Herzman, Ronald B., ix , 205 n

Hirzel, Rudolf, 52 n, 86

History, 141 , 142 –43, 191 . See also Augustine; Boethius; Fortune; Inferno ; Pickering; Tragedy

History in Canterbury Tales :

as critique of providential idea, 141 , 146 , 149 ,

160 ;

in Knight's Tale, 123 –26, 149 n;

in Monk's Tale:

as basic theme, 140 , 142 ;

as tragedy, 193 .

See also Nun's Priest's Tale

History in Comedy :

individual and collective, 21 , 150 –51;

as tragedy, 196

Hoban, James H., 137 n

Hoccleve, Thomas, 51 n

Hödl, Ludwig, 72 n

Hollander, Robert, 22 n, 57 ;

on discussion of allegory in Convivio , 58 , 58 n

Homer, 25 , 34 n;

Aristotle on epics of, as mimetic, 7 , 105 –7;

in Limbo, 21 ;

and orality, 106 –7;

Proteus as helper in Odyssey , 71 ;

and relation to Aeneid , 20 , 30

Horace, 19 , 21

Host, 8 , 40 , 44 , 44 n, 128 , 143 , 228 , 236 ;

Miller's triumph over, 42 ;

surrogate for authority figure, 30 ;

wife Goodlief, 54

House of Fame , 25 –29;

and Dante's Limbo, 26 ;

and discussion of dreams, 27 ;

dreamer in, addressed as "Geffrey," 37 ;

as parody of Comedy , 26 –27;

as prologue to Canterbury Tales , 33 –35;

search for Virgil figure in, 30 ;

and two stages of poet's career, 35 .

See also Dreams; Epic, Fame

Howard, Donald, 25 n, 33 n, 85 , 85 n, 88 n;

on "inner form" of Canterbury Tales , 18

"Hugelino":

compared with Ugolino episode, 158 –59.

See also Children; Inferno ; Monk's Tale; Tragedy; Ugolino

Human (and divine) image, 56 , 156 , 157 , 211 ;

in Canterbury Tales , 34 ;

discussed by Augustine, 6 ;

Gen. 1.26 quoted, 93 n;

Geryon's, 70 ;

as nostra effige , 218 –20, 261 –64;

in Nun's Priest's Tale, 93 , 96 ;

and personal illumination, 87 ;

Pilgrim striving to realize, 72 , 72 n;

vision of, in Paradiso , 6 , 87 ;

in water of Lethe, 242 .

See also Allegory

Huppé, Bernard F., 212 n, 250 n;

on "Goddes pryvetee," 135 n

Image. See Human (and divine) image

Imitatio Christi :

Chauntecleer's twofold, 93 –94;

in Prioress's Tale, 100

Inferno , 145 ;

allusions to:

in Friar's Tale, 202 –3;

in Prologue to Summoner's Tale, 203 –4;

barrators in, 158 , 203 –4, 205 , 218 ;

Bertrand de Born in, 164 ;

comedy of giants in, 46 –47;

denizens' self-conception realized in, 70 ;

denizens' self-willed change in, 72 ;

and epic theater in, 115 –16;

Francesca in, 13 , 39 , 152 ;

as labyrinth, 209 ;

and nature of evil, 48 ;

Ulysses in, 13 .

See also Alberigo, frate ; Bocca degli Abati; Pier della Vigna; Ugolino

Intertextuality, 3 , 14 , 184 –88, 191 , 243 , 248 ;

and Monk's Tale, 140

Iser, Wolfgang, 12 , 113 , 113 n;

on "realization of the text," 13

J

Jameson, Fredric, 12 n, 19 n

January:

blindness of, 245 ;

compared to mother, 261 –62;

cured by Pluto, 246 ;

and Dantean Pilgrim, 252 ;

Epicureanism of, 256 ;

and faith in Church, 252 ;

garden of, 254 –58;

and ideas about marriage, 248 –49;

literal use of Bible by, 258 ;

and Miller on marriage, 263 ;

and reasons for marrying, 250 ;

and search for bride, 252 ;

and use of "swyve," 262 –63;

and vision in pear tree, 261 –62;

wedding of, and Song of Songs, 254 ;

and willingness to ignore evidence of senses, 263 ;

and worry about "blisses two," 250 –51.

See also Language; Marriage; Merchant; Merchant's Tale; Song of Songs

Javelet, Robert, 71 n, 72 n

John of Salisbury, 256 n

Johnson, W. R., 191 n

Jones, G. F., 133 n

Jones, Terry, 13 , 122 n

Judas, 93 n, 176 ;

in Friar's Tale, 204 –5;

as suicide, 195 –96

Julius Caesar, 192 , 193 , 195

K

Kantorowicz, Ernst H., 150 n;

quoted on De Monarchia , 96

Kaske, R. E., 146 , 253 n

Kelley, Theresa, 71 n

Kierkegaard, Søren, 231 n;

on marriage, 227 , 227 n

King Arthur, 48 , 49

Knight, 12 , 200 ;

ambiguities in General Prologue portrait of, 199 ;

Augustinian perspective of, 125 ;

and chivalry, 13 ;

interrupts Monk's Tale, 145 –46;

self-presentation of, in General Prologue, 122 , 122 n, 197 ;

and urge for "maistrye," 139 .

See also Miller

Knight's Tale:

attitude to audience in, 127 –28;

idea of theater in, 120 –128;

narrator deflates aura of tragedy in, 125 , 126 ;

narrator's perspective in, 124 , 197 ;

view of history in, 126 .

See also Arcite; Boethius; History; Pickering; Theater; Theseus

Kolve, V. A., 134

Kötting, Bernhard, 31 n

Kristeva, Julia, 5 n

Krouse, F. Michael, 165 n, 166 n

Kurdzialek, Marian, 93 n, 95 n, 98 n

L

Lacan, Jacques, 12 ;

"Signification of the Phallus," 256 n

Lactantius, 115 , 115 n

Language, 3 , 74 –76;

of Bible in Purgatorio , 241 ;

and Derrida on written word in Phaedrus , 36 ;

duplicity and instability of, in Comedy , 70 ;

fart unlike verbal sign, 216 ;

farting and speaking equated, 216 ;

friars' treatment of, 212 –13;

in Inferno , 78 –79;

like Latin to Summoner, 217 ;

levels of, in Comedy , 28 ;

music of, 74 –76;

Nominalist view of, 37 ;

in Nun's Priest's Tale, 89 , 90 , 93 ;

"olde lewed wordes," 258 –59, 262 , 263 ;

Petrarch's Latin and Clerk's vernacular, 225 –26;

"sensory component" in, 74 .

See also Allegory; Fart; Literal meaning; Metaphor; Troping; Wordplay

Laura, 229 n, 234 n, 235 n;

resemblance to Griselda, 229

Legend of Good Women , 86 n, 230

Le Goff, Jacques, 171 –72, 171 n

Leicester, Marshall, 8 , 9 n, 237 ;

"The Art of Impersonation" discussed, 8 –10

Lerer, Seth, 62 n

Letter. See Literal meaning

Letter to Can Grande, 101 ;

on allegory of Comedy , 57 –58, 58 n

Levitan, Alan, 219 n

Levy, Bernard S., and George R. Adams, 93 nn

Lewis, C. S., 36 ;

on allegory in Chaucer's poetry, 55 , 55 n

Leyerle, John, 33 n

Literal meaning:

of animals in Nun's Priest's Tale, 92 ;

Aristotelianism and, in Convivio , 59 –61;

Augustine on letter that kills as, 253 ;

in Comedy and Bible, 57 ;

distinction between metaphoric and, discussed, 102 –3;

friar abolishes, in Summoner's Tale, 212 ;

and "glosyng," 212 , 213 ;

integrity of, 238 ;

as kind of death, 15 ;

letter that kills as, in Summoner's Tale, 212 ;

Letter to Can Grande on, of Comedy , 58 ;

littera as, in biblical exegesis, 56 ;

primary in Dantean allegory, 7 , 58 –61, 101 ;

reader's tendency to look past, 74 ;

sacrifice of, in Petrarchan allegory, 16 , 238 ;

Singleton on, in Comedy , quoted and discussed, 111 –13;

Summoner slain by letter as, 217 ;

suppression of, and Song of Songs, 16 , 252 –54.

See also Allegory; Language; Metaphor; Troping

Littera. See Literal meaning

Lollards, 124 n

Lollius:

and idea of fame, 29

Loomis, Laura Hibbard, 41 n, 45

Lorenzo Valla, 255

Lucan, 21 , 192

Lucifer in Comedy , 47 , 152 , 194 , 210 ;

aids Pilgrim's progress, 193 ;

and ambiguity of "Satanic spirit," 195 –96;

and crucified Christ, 195 , 195 n;

as emblem of victim and tyrant, 195 ;

as father unable to swallow sons, 195 ;

Singleton on, 193 , 193 n;

and tragedy of history, 196 ;

and tragic Lucifer in Monk's Tale, 194 .

See also History; Monk's Tale; Satan; Sin; Tears; Tragedy

Lucretius, 245 n

Lydgate, 26 , 133 n

Lynn-George, Michael, 105 n

M

McCall, John P., 226 n, 233 n

McClellan, William, 226 n

McGalliard, J. C., 248 n

McGregor, James H., 124 n

Maclean, Marie:

quoted, 119 –20

Macrobius, 86 n, 156 , 156 n, 157 n

Mann, Jill, 143

Man of Law, 37 –38

Marriage, 135 , 233 ;

in Canterbury Tales , 54 , 242 ;

in Clerk's Tale, 227 , 228 , 232 ;

as mirror of civilization, 242 ;

as otherworld bondage, 260 ;

as sacrament, 251 –52;

Solomonic, in Earthly Paradise, 242 .

See also Earthly Paradise; January; Merchant's Tale; Song of Songs

Marshall, Linda E., 130 n

Marshall, Mary H., 137 n

Masks, 157 , 213 ;

Boccaccio on, 156 –57;

face as, 71 ;

and idea of person, 137 ;

and poetic persona of Comedy , 114 ;

and portrait of Miller in General Prologue, 136 .

See also Miller; Mystery Plays; Person

Mazzotta, Giuseppe, 22 , 22 n, 70 n, 191 n;

quoted, 70

Medieval Monasteries, 143 n;

and historical study, 142

Melibee , 51 –53;

as allegory, 55 ;

as critique of chivalry, 52 n;

Host on Prudence, 54 ;

and Latin tradition of prudentia , 53 , 53 n;

as Socratic dialogue, 52 , 52 n

Merchant:

contrasts wife with Griselda, 247 ;

and ecclesiastical orthodoxy, 259 ;

embattled soul of, 246 ;

January as mirror of, 248 ;

learns to see, 264 ;

marriage of, linked with fear of death, 16 ;

marriage of, a Petrarchan allegory, 248 ;

source of unhappiness of, 258 –59;

tropes wife as demon, 16 , 247 ;

two-month marriage of, 247 .

See also January; Marriage

Merchants, 248 , 248 n;

Boccaccio on, 244

Merchant's Tale, 14 , 15 , 16 ;

ambivalence about marriage in, 248 –250;

ambivalence of narrative viewpoint in, 243 , 245 ;

antimatrimonial arguments in, 249 ;

censorship in, 255 , 258 –59, 263 ;

Comedy one of "repressed" texts in, 252 ;

desire as threat in, 246 –47;

eroticism in, 245 –46, 251 , 254 , 255 , 261 , 262 ;

Fortune as sexual monster in, 244 ;

garden of Song of Songs:

displaced in, 255 ;

and tradition of eroticism, 255 –57;

Geryon and, 244 ;

intertextuality with Comedy , 16 , 242 –64;

and linguistic decorum, 263 –64;

marriage debates in, 249 –51, 259 –61;

May as censor in, 263 ;

and monastic asceticism, 261 ;

narrator playing with audience in, 263 ;

and "olde lewed wordes," 258 –59;

Orpheus, Amphion in, 254 ;

"our image" in pear-tree in, 261 –64;

Priapus in, 256 –57;

problem of focus in, 243 –47;

repression in, 245 , 246 ;

rhetorical excess in, 245 ;

shifts of perspective in, 257 , 259 ;

Song of Songs as repressed text in, 254 –59;

search for wife in, 252 ;

unconscious revelation in, 247 –52;

Venus in, 245 , 246 , 247 ;

Verfremdungseffekt in, 257 ;

wedding procession in, 245 , 257 ;

wife compared to livestock, meat in, 250 ;

Wife of Bath's authority invoked in, 251 .

See also Allegory; Earthly Paradise; January; Marriage; Pluto and Proserpina; Song of Songs

Metaphor, 57 , 217 ;

Dantean pilgrimage as, 32 ;

Derrida on, 73 n;

Geryon as, 78 –79;

and intention, 79 ;

Ricoeur on translatability of, 73 n;

translatio as, 78 –79.

See also Allegory; Language; Literal meaning; Troping

Middleton, Anne, 224 n

Miller, 128 –29, 133 –34;

bagpipe as comic double of, 136 ;

challenges Knight's outlook, 120 ;

General Prologue portrait of, 132 ;

and masks, 136 ;

and mystery plays, 130 ;

and tale-telling game, 86 ;

views on

marriage quoted, 135 .

See also Knight; Robin

Miller, Milton, 100 n

Miller, Robert P., 58 , 236 n

Miller's Tale:

Boethian fortune and providential justice in, 131 ;

as critique and parody of Knight's Tale, 131 –32;

demonic as natural in, 131 ;

"Goddes pryvetee" in, 130 ;

Robin:

as dupe in, 132 –33;

and scheme of salvation, 133 ;

shot-window as proscenium arch in, 129 ;

street-theater in, 131 ;

theater in, 128 –29;

theatrical "maistrye" in, 131 –32;

translatio studii in, 131 ;

violence in, 129 .

See also Epic theater; Knight; Knight's Tale; Mystery plays; Person; Robin; Theater

Milton, John, 50 n, 54 , 68 n, 141 , 141 n, 152 n

Minos:

monstrous judge in Inferno , 209 ;

tail of, 210 .

See also Confession; Contrapasso ; Sin

Minstrel:

as poet figure in Canterbury Tales , 43 .

See also Tale of Sir Thopas

Mitchell, C., 122 n

Mogan, Joseph J., Jr., 250 n

Monk, 13 , 201 ;

a Boccaccio figure, 14 ;

and contrast with Knight, 146 ;

defines tragedy, 145 ;

General Prologue portrait of, discussed, 143 ;

hundred tragedies of, 144 –45;

literary ambition of, 144 ;

and monastic rules, 143 ;

tragic vision of, 149 –50

Monk's Tale, 12 , 14 , 15 , 145 –46, 196 –200;

begins where Inferno ends, 145 ;

breaks with expected narrative patterns, 145 ;

Cato's suicide in, 193 ;

as critique of providential theories, 141 –42, 149 ;

"Croesus" and Crucifixion parody in, 159 –60, 193 ;

and fall of Lucifer in, 193 ;

Fortune in "Nero" in, 173 –74;

garden in "Nero" and Crucifixion story in, 175 –76;

"Hercules" paralleled with "Samson" in, 145 , 165 –66;

heterogeneous characters of, as in Comedy , 140 ;

history:

basic theme in, 140 –41;

and human autonomy in, 14 , 142 ;

as literary construct in, 141 ;

"Hugelino" in, 157 –59;

as interpretation of Inferno , 201 ;

and rhetoric of Boethian Fortune, 149 ;

Seneca in "Nero" as Senecan hero, 166 , 176 –78;

Senecan tragedy in, 160 –61;

suicide in, 166 –67, 174 , 175 , 176 ;

tribute to Dante in, 159 .

See also Boethius; Fortune; History; Knight; Seneca; Suicide; Tragedy

Morgan, Margery, 130 n

Morse, Charlotte, 224 n

Mystery plays, 116 , 131 ;

animal masks in, 130 ;

and Miller and his Tale, 130 –34.

See also Epic theater; Miller; Theater

N

Narrative:

"mimetic" and "diegetic," 108 –9;

as theater in Comedy , 113

Narrator:

as disembodied voice in Nun's Priest's Tale, 89 ;

problematic, in Merchant's Tale, 243 –47

Newman, John Kevin:

on Brecht's epic drama and Homer, 107 n

Nicholas Trevet, 108 , 108 n

Nimrod, 46

Noakes, Susan, 65 , 65 n

Nostra effige. See Human (and divine) image

Nun's Priest:

ambiguous embodiment of, 90 ;

hawklike eyes of, 90 ;

indeterminate persona of, 119 ;

settling scores with Prioress, 89 n;

and textual problem in General Prologue, 89 .

See also Epic theater; Prioress

Nun's Priest's Tale, 7 , 88 –101, 142 n;

as Aesopian divine comedy, 95 ;

battle of sexes in, 89 ;

category mistakes in, 90 –91, 93 , 93 n;

as comedy of verbalism, 88 , 89 ;

Croesus's dream in, 97 ;

debate about dreams, 88 ;

Host on narrator's appearance, 90 ;

idea of human uniqueness in, 92 –93;

imago Dei as belonging to entire creation in, 94 –96;

and mock-epic style, 89 ;

Peasants' Revolt in, 91 n, 92 –93, 101 ;

and primacy of literal level, 92 ;

relation of, to Prioress's Tale discussed, 99 –101;

in spirit of Dante's Earthly Paradise, 95 ;

tree as

central allegorical symbol, 97 ;

vision of history, 99 ;

wordplay on ascencioun in, 98 .

See also Allegory; Animals; Chauntecleer; Prioress's Tale

O

Ohly, Friedrich, 253 n

Omnis creatura , 94 –95;

and redemption of body, 95

Ortega y Gasset, José, 128 , 128 n

Otto von Freising, 190 n

Ovid, 256 ;

Chaucer compared to, by Man of Law, 37 –38;

Metamorphoses , 69 , 72

P

Paradiso :

Bernard of Clairvaux in, 104 ;

God cited as Archer, 80 ;

Pilgrim learns to see in, 264 ;

Pilgrim's final vision of nostra effige in, 6 , 87 , 219 –20, 262

Paratore, Ettore, 163 n

Pardoner, 210

Parker, Roscoe E., 132 n

Parliament of Fowls , 55

Parody:

as exploration of style, 42 –43;

House of Fame as, 26 –27;

in Monk's Tale, 14 ;

as self-parody, 43

Parson's Tale, 87 –88

Patterson, Lee W., 44 n, 118 n, 142 n;

on Legend of Good Women , 230 ;

on millers and Peasants' Revolt, 133 n

Pearsall, Derek, 41 n, 89 n, 92 n;

on literary tradition in Nun's Priest's Tale, 91 n

Pépin, Jean, 56 n, 57 n, 60 nn

Perceval:

Arthurian knight, 48 –49

Person, 81 ;

Boethius quoted on etymology and definition of, 137 , 137 n, 138 n;

Cicero on, as interplay of personae , 138 –39, 138 n, 139 n;

and epic theater, 110 ;

presumed etymology of, 137 ;

progressive elimination of theatrical idea from, 137 –39;

Hans Rheinfelder on semantic history, 138 n;

theatrical idea of, 137 .

See also Boethius; Character; Masks; Miller

Persona. See Person

Personality:

inseparable from belief, 87

Petrarch, Francis, 16 , 145 , 224 , 226 ;

Clerk's relation to, 221 –26;

letters of, 223 –24;

obsession with death, 15 ;

use of Latin, 225 , 225 n

Petrarchism:

Chaucer early disseminator of, 230 n;

and Clerk's Tale, 229 –30, 233 ;

idealization:

as form of escapism, 230 ;

as mask for antifeminism, 230

Pickering, Francis P., 197 ;

quoted on Augustinian and Boethian narrative models, 121 –23, 123 n

Pico della Mirandola, 73

Piehler, Paul:

on "allegorical plot," 61 ;

on "concrete personalities" in Dantean allegory, 61 ;

on dialogue as therapy, 62 –63

Pieper, Josef:

on Prudence, 53 n

Pier della Vigna, 181 –90;

belief as key word for, 188 –89;

and Harpies as doubles of suicides, 190 ;

intertextuality with Aeneid of, 184 –88;

mesta selva and selva oscura , 182 ;

and Monk's Seneca, 182 ;

and nature of human soul; 184 –90;

Pilgrim as spectator at tragedy of, 183 ;

story of, as "psychodrama," 183 –84;

as supreme example of contrapasso in Inferno , 188 .

See also Aeneid; Contrapasso ; Dualism; Inferno ; Soul; Suicide

Pilgrimage, 5 , 7 , 32 , 55 , 71 , 84

Pilgrimage fellowship, 42 ;

and class distinctions, 41 –42

Plato, 36 , 40 ;

on justice as goal of political society, 71 n;

Timaeus on mastery of passions, 71 n

Play-within-a-play, 14 ;

and Friar's and Summoner's Tales, 211

Plot:

allegorical, 6 , 7 , 87 ;

analogy with Plato's Symposium , 86 –87;

Aristotle's formula for, 85 , 88 ;

in Canterbury Tales , 85 –88;

Kittredge on tales as dramatic utterances, 85 , 85 n;

Thopas as archetypal, 88

Pluto and Proserpina:

appearance in Merchant's Tale: 257 , 259 –61;

signals shift of narrative perspective, 257 , 259 ;

like gods in Knight's Tale, 259 ;

as king and queen:

of Celtic otherworld, 257 ;

of "fayerye," 257 , 260 –61;

of Virgilian underworld, 257 ;

as leaders of wedding procession, 257 ;

and

mythic syncretism, 257 ;

and "real" marriage debate, 257 n, 261 n;

and seeing woman as person, 259 , 260 , 261 , 262 ;

like Solomon and bride in Song of Songs;

on Solomon's views about women, 257 , 261 n.

See also Claudian; Gods; Marriage; Merchant's Tale; Proserpina; Song of Songs

Poetic persona:

Dante's and Chaucer's compared, 32 –33.

See also Chaucer

Poirion, Daniel, 256 n

Priapus, god of gardens:

in Parliament of Fowls , 256 n;

as poet figure, 256 ;

poetics of, in Anelida and Arcite , 257 n

Prioress:

and rules of convent, 13

Prioress's Tale:

"clergeon" and imitatio Christi , 100 ;

Hugh of Lincoln, 100 ;

law of vengeance not abrogated, 101 .

See also Nun's Priest's Tale

Proserpina:

exegetical freedom of, 261 n;

unawed by male authority, 261 n;

like Wife of Bath, 257 n, 261 n;

and Wife of Bath's Tale, 260 .

See also Gardens; January; Merchant's Tale; Pluto and Proserpina; Song of Songs

Proteus:

and Dante, 72 n;

type of self-transformation, 72

Providence:

Caesar as agent of, 192 ;

Cato's essay on, cited, 166 –67;

distinguished from Stoic providentia , 167 –68;

in Knight's Tale, 198 .

See also Augustine; Boethius; Fortune; History; Inferno ; Monk's Tale; Tragedy

Purgatorio :

and Casella's song, 173 n;

La Pia, 13 ;

and secret of dolce stil nuovo , 66 –67;

Statius, 22 –24;

Virgil "crowns" Pilgrim, 96 .

See also Cato; Earthly Paradise; Purgatory

Purgatory:

as analogue of historical world, 172 ;

as "Hell of limited duration," 171 –72;

purgation of sin not traditional, 172

R

Reader:

relationship of, with Dantean Pilgrim, 87 , 112 ;

role of, in character creation, 8 –9, 12 –13;

and "supplement" to text, 113 , 113 n

Reeve, 135 ;

as Knight's proxy, 120

Reeve's Tale, 47 n

Revenge:

and chivalry, 52 n;

in Melibee , 52 ;

in Prioress's and Nun's Priest's Tales, 101 ;

and tale-telling, 52 n

Ricoeur, Paul, 11 n, 172 n;

on translatability of metaphor, 73 n

Robertson, D. W., Jr., 212 n, 253 n;

on medieval bagpipes, 136 n

Robin:

as name:

of Miller, 132 ;

in Piers Plowman , 134 n;

in Roman de la Rose , 134 n;

of servant in Miller's Tale, 132 –34

Roman de la Rose , 257 , 257 n;

Guillaume de Lorris as author, 256 , 256 n;

Jean de Meun, 256 n;

referred to in Merchant's Tale, 256 n;

as source of Monk's "Nero," 175 , 175 n

Rome:

idea of, in Comedy , 191

Root, R. K., 147 n, 175 n

Ross, L. J., 136 n

Rota Virgilii :

discussed by Curtius, 34 n

Ruggiers, Paul, 201 n

S

Salter, Elizabeth, 236 n

Satan:

Fox as, in Nun's Priest's Tale, 94 ;

and God in Clerk's Tale, 234 ;

in Prioress's Tale, 100 ;

in Prologue to Summoner's Tale, 203 .

See also Inferno ; Lucifer; Monk's Tale

Saturn:

devours his children, 155 –56.

See also Boccaccio; Cannibalism; Gods; Lucifer

Scaffold:

poet reciting on, 108 ;

as stage in Miller's and Knight's Tales, 131 .

See also Epic Theater; Theater

Schade, Herbert, 6

Schless, Howard, 2 n, 203 n

Scott, K. L., 136 n

Second Nun, 118

Self-alienation, 7 , 115

Self-duplication (dédoublement ):

in allegory, 62 –63;

"demonic," in Inferno , 70 ;

Geryon as example of, 64 –71;

and Pilgrim's quest, 84

Seneca as author:

Boccaccio's knowledge of, 161 n;

on Cato's suicide, quoted and discussed, 167 –68, 167 n, 168 nn;

close affinity with Comedy , 162 ;

contrapasso in Hercules Furens , 164 ;

Hercules' death in Hercules Oetaeus , 167 , 167 n;

Hercules and demystification of world, 162 , 168 n;

Hercules Furens and tragic pattern, 162 –64;

and idea of cosmic theater, 168 , 168 n;

in Limbo, 176 n;

Stoic providentia compared with Christian Providence, 167 –68,

Theseus's underworld journey and Dantean pilgrimage, 163 –64, 163 n;

tragedies characterized, 161 –64.

See also Cato; Inferno ; Monk's Tale; Suicide; Tragedy

Seneca as character:

in "Nero," 176 –77, 178 , 181 –82;

in Octavia , 174 n

Severs, J. Burke, 51 n, 222 n, 226 n

Shakespeare, 89 , 119 ;

Nero compared to Macbeth, 175 ;

Pilgrim and Macbeth, 115

Shapiro, Marianne:

on Dante's "Beatricean" inspiration, 53 n

Shoaf, R. A., 3 , 243 n;

on marriage as oikonomía , 250 n

Simile, 80 ;

falcon-falconer, analyzed, 76 –78, 79 , 83 –84;

mother-child, analyzed, 261 –62

Sin:

as defilement, 172 , 172 n;

and quest for lost image, 5 –6;

views of, in Inferno and Purgatorio , 171 , 171 n.

See also Contrapasso

Singleton, C. S., 57 , 191 n;

on allegory in Comedy , 56 , 56 n;

and passim

Sir Orfeo :

and syncretism, 257 ;

parallels with Merchant's Tale, 260

Smalley, Beryl, 203 n

Snell, Bruno, 142 n

Socrates:

and Chaucerian persona in Canterbury Tales , 50 –51;

Eustache Deschamps likens Chaucer to, 51 n;

in Gower's Confessio Amantis , 54 n;

in Jankyn's "book of wikked wyves," 54 , 54 n;

in Latin versions of Platonic dialogues, 50 –51;

post-Platonic legend of, 51

Sollers, Philippe, 17 n, 65 , 65 n, 244 n, 252 n;

on eroticism, 17

Song of Songs:

allegorical character of, 252 –54;

Augustine on, 253 , 253 n;

and ecclesiastical commentators, 16 ;

erotic eliminated from, 17 ;

Isidore of Seville on, quoted, 253 –54;

and marital symbolism, 16 ;

and Merchant's Tale, 16 ;

and Pilgrim and Beatrice, 16 ;

and suppression of literal, 16 –17, 253 –54;

as wedding poem or drama, 253 .

See also Allegory; Earthly Paradise; Eroticism; Literal meaning; Marriage; Merchant's Tale

Sørensen, Villy, 164 , 164 n

Soul, 7 ;

allegory of, in Phaedrus , 77 ;

Arcite's, 197 , 198 ;

classical view of, 71 ;

contrapasso as loss of, 201 ;

flesh without, and Summoner, 204 ;

Colin Hardie on redemption of, 83 ;

Heraclitus's image of, 69 ;

ideas of, in Aeneid , 185 –89;

inseparable from personal destiny, 187 ;

relation of, to body, 185 –86, 191 ;

Thomistic theory of composite, 83 n;

Virgil's belief about, 188 –89.

See also Body; Dualism; Pier della Vigna

Spenser, Edmund:

on allegory as "dark conceit," 102 ;

continuator of Chaucer tradition, 45 ;

Kenneth Gross on Spenser's allegory, 103 , 103 n;

Mutability Cantos, 162 ;

Redcross in Faerie Queene and Pilgrim in Inferno , 84 n

Spinoza, 12

Spurgeon, Caroline, 51 n

Stahl, William H., 86 n

Stambler, Bernard, 20 n, 150 , 150 n;

on reunion of Beatrice and Pilgrim, 242 , 242 n

Statius:

as authority on theological matters, 23 ;

as character in Purgatorio , 22 –23;

implied judgment on, 23 ;

Virgilian texts in life of, 22 –24, 24 n

Stewart, Stanley, 255 n

Stoicism:

honest as key term in, 256 , 256 n;

and Senecan tragedy, 161 ;

Stoic humanism in Inferno , 15 .

See also Cato; Monk's Tale; Seneca; Suicide

Sturm-Maddox, Sara, 233 n, 234 n

Suetonius, 174 n, 175 n

Suicide, 168 –69, 181 –90;

as affirmation of human image, 176 ;

Arachne's attempted, 69 ;

Cato's and Comedy , 169 –72;

Cicero on, 168 , 168 nn;

Dante's motives for, 170 n;

Judas's, 195 –96;

in Monk's Tale, 165 –66, 173 , 175 –77;

Seneca's and

Pier della Vigna's, 178 , 181 –82;

Seneca on Cato's, 165 n, 166 –68;

and Seneca's tragic vision, 168 , 168 n.

See also Cato; Inferno ; Monk's Tale; Pier della Vigna; Seneca; Tragedy

Summoner:

and barrators in Inferno , 203 –4;

as example of contrapasso , 15 , 217 ;

and frate Alberigo, 218 .

See also Confession; Contrapasso ; Friar; Friar's Tale; Inferno

Summoner's Tale, 131 n, 204 n, 206 n, 253 n;

attack on friars in, discussed, 212 –16;

contrapasso in, discussed, 211 –18;

fart not mere sign, 216 –17;

"glosyng" defined, 212 ;

literal and metaphoric groping in, 217 –18;

as satire on hermeneutic principle, 212 –13;

squire Jankyn:

cartwheel solution of, and paradisal vision, 218 –20;

and spirit of comic tale-telling, 219 ;

as Summoner's double, 218 .

See also Confession; Friar; Friar's Tale; Language; Literal meaning

Swain, Barbara, 49 n

Swift, Jonathan, 190 n

Szittya, Penn R., 203 n

T

Tale of Sir Thopas , 40 –50;

and archetypal plot, 88 ;

and genre of popular romance, 40 ;

Lucifer and Olifaunt, 46 –47;

and minstrel as figure of poet, 42 –43, 44 ;

and moral vision of Comedy , 47 ;

as parody of Comedy , 45 –49;

and poetic autobiography, 41 ;

Spenser's appropriation of, in Faerie Queene , 45 , 45 n;

as urtext of "secular scripture," 44 .

See also Thopas.

Tale-telling game:

as model for reader, 120

Tambling, Jeremy, 65 n, 75 n;

on Dante's poetics, 67 , 67 n;

on Dante's sense of history, 141 n;

on Purgatorio , 76

Taylor, Karla, 3 , 3 n;

on recantation in Troilus and Criseyde , 39 n

Tears, 197 ;

frate Alberigo's frozen, 210 –11;

as sign of tragedy and hope, 196

Tertullian, 115 n, 124

Textor. See Weavers

Theater:

of Canterbury Tales , characterized, 120 ;

ideas about, in Miller's and Knight's Tales, 121 , 128 –32;

medieval, characterized, 8 , 116 n;

medieval ideas about classical, 108 , 134 .

See also Character; Epic theater; Mystery plays

Theatricality:

thematized in Canterbury Tales , 116 , 120

Theodicy. See Providence

Theseus, 126 –28, 198 –99;

amphitheater of, 121 ;

Boethian oration of, 199 ;

political theater of, 126 –27.

See also Knight; Knight's Tale

Thomas Aquinas, Saint, 165 –66, 166 n

Thopas:

like Dantean Pilgrim, 48 ;

encounter of, with giant Olifaunt discussed, 45 –48;

and hero as bourgeois knight, 49 ;

like Perceval of Galles, 48 –49;

and St. Francis of Assisi, 50 .

See also Tale of Sir Thopas

Todorov, Tzvetan:

on the fantastic and allegory, 73 –74, 74 n

Towneley Cycle, 133 , 133 n

Tragedy, 25 , 144 ;

and Aeneid , 191 ;

and ambivalence, 201 ;

and death as remedy, 166 ;

discussed by Monk, 160 –61;

Inferno as, 161 , 161 n;

Monk's definition of, 145 ;

paradox of, and frate Alberigo, 211 ;

and Troilus and Criseyde , 25 .

See also Comedy; History; Inferno ; Monk's Tale; Pier della Vigna; Seneca

Transition from oral to literate culture:

Comedy mainly addressed to reader, 108 ;

in fourteenth-century Europe, 107 –108;

Homer "between two worlds," 106 –107;

poet of Canterbury Tales as minstrel and "translateur," 108

Translatio. See Metaphor

Tree:

Chauntecleer's flight to, 93 ;

etymologically related to "bemes," 97 ;

as gallows, 97 , 149 ;

of Life replaces crucifix, 97 ;

in Merchant's Tale, 256 –57, 261 –62, 264

Trinkaus, Charles:

on Petrarch's "double consciousness," 233 , 233 n

Tripet, Arnaud, 225 n, 237 n

Troilus and Criseyde , 123 n;

and Boccaccio's antiquarian poetics, 39 ;

echoes of Comedy in, 3 ;

envoy possibly from Filocolo , 25 ;

envoy quoted, 24 ;

in line of epic, 25 , 38 –39;

"Lollius" as source of, 25 ;

Man of Law's "Brixseyde" and, 38 ;

as modeled on Aeneid , 25 ;

and Ovidian mode, 39 ;

predates conversion to Dantean poetic, 38 –39;

recantation in, 39 , 39 n;

as tragedy, 38 , 39

Troping:

of Merchant's wife, 16 ;

Pretrarchan idealization and, 230 , 234 ;

as warding off death, 15 .

See also Allegory; Language; Literal meaning; Metaphor

Trovato, Mario, 251 n

Turner, Victor and Edith:

on liminality and pilgrimage community, 31 , 31 n

"Two beatitudes" question:

and Albert the Great and Aquinas, 251 ;

discussed in De Monarchia and Convivio , 251 ;

and dual paradise of Comedy , 251 ;

Kantorowicz on Dante's view of, 251 n;

worries January, 251

U

Ugolino:

analyzed in relation to Monk's "Hugelino," 151 –59;

and children in Tower and unbaptized in Limbo, 153 ;

and Clerk's Tale, 231 ;

and "closure" of Tower, Thebes, and Inferno, 154 –55;

Hunger Tower as analogue of Inferno, 152 ;

as parody of Christianity, 155 ;

Pisa and Thebes as types of hell, 153 –54.

See also Cannibalism; Deconstruction; History; Inferno

Uhlig, Claus, 35 n

Ullmann, Walter, 190 n

Ulysses, 239

Usk, Thomas, 51 n, 86 n

Ussery, Huling E., 221 n, 228 n

V

Van, Thomas A., 227 n

Van Dyke, Carolynn, 58 ;

quoted on Dante's narrative, 60 –61

Venantius Fortunatus, 194

Venus, 27 , 245 , 246 , 254 ;

temple of, in House of Fame , 30 .

See also Eroticism; Gods

Virgil as author: 20 , 21 ;

medieval legend of, 20 ;

Proteus in Georgics , 71 n

Virgil as figure in Comedy :

with authority, 84 ;

first appearance of, 29 ;

as major crux, 21 ;

and meaning of fioco discussed, 29 , 29 n;

as muse, 64 ;

as poet-text in Limbo, 29 ;

regains voice in Comedy , 30 ;

sudden disappearance of, 24 , 64

Vita Nuova , 1 , 12 , 222 , 242 ;

death of Beatrice in, 239 ;

Love speaks in, 67

W

Waith, Eugene, 167 , 167 n

Wallace, David, 25 n, 221 n, 225 n

Walsh, Gerald G., 150 n

Weavers:

epic poet like, 20 , 69 ;

Turks and Tartars, 69

Weintraub, Karl Joachim, 142 nn

Welsford, Enid, 49 n

Wetherbee, Winthrop, 3 ;

on Dante's Statius, 23 n

Whitfield, J. H., 25 n

Wife of Bath, 54 , 210 , 259 , 261 ;

as character in relation to tale, 117 ;

and Clerk's Envoy, 238 ;

role like Beatrice's, 222 –23, 240 ;

role in Merchant's Tale, 243 , 251

Wife of Bath's Tale:

as critique of Prologue, 117 ;

and fairies in Merchant's Tale, 260 –61;

intertextuality with Friar's Tale, 208 ;

lecture on gentilesse in, 104 ;

mention of Dante in, 140

Wilshire, Bruce, 119 n, 110 n

Wimsatt, J. I., 253 n

Wolfram von Eschenbach, 122 n

Wordplay, 74 n;

bilingual:

soma , 81 –82;

carro-caro , 223 ;

chiuder as "close" and "enclose," 154 –55;

corda , 79 –80;

famulier , 206 n;

nota/notare , 66 –68, 74 ;

in Nun's Priest's Tale, 97 –98;

squire , 218 .

See also Language

Y

Yeats, W. B., 139

Compositor: Impressions, a division of Edwards Brothers, Inc.
Text: 10/13 Galliard
Display: Galliard
Printer: Edwards Brothers, Inc.
Binder: Edwards Brothers, Inc.