Alisoun Takes Exception: Medieval Legal Pleading and the Wife of Bath

If, as Marlowe wrote in Doctor Faustus, Helen of Troy bore the "face that launched a thousand ships," then surely the Wife of Bath's gap-toothed countenance is the mug that has launched a thousand critics. Commentators have looked at various aspects of Alisoun's character, from h...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Chaucer review 2013-07, Vol.48 (1), p.66-90
Main Author: Houser, Richard McCormick
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bible
Chaucer, Geoffrey (1340?-1400)
Debt
Defendants
Husbands
Judicial writs
Literary criticism
Litigants
Marriage
Middle Ages
Plaintiffs
Poetry
Poets
Prologues
Stereotypes
Women
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:If, as Marlowe wrote in Doctor Faustus, Helen of Troy bore the "face that launched a thousand ships," then surely the Wife of Bath's gap-toothed countenance is the mug that has launched a thousand critics. Commentators have looked at various aspects of Alisoun's character, from her antecedents to her exegetical skills, her clothing, and her physical appearance and beyond. The output of research on Alisoun's prologue, tale, and personal description is as relentless today as ever, as scholars continue to attempt to understand Chaucer's intentions regarding this character and her presentation. Here, Houser proposes that the Wife of Bath employs the courtroom pleading techniques of excepcion and confession and avoidance to challenge the misogynist teachings of clerical authority. Alisoun's background provides access to this masculine language system, which gives her voice an authority not otherwise possible.
ISSN:0009-2002
1528-4204
DOI:10.5325/chaucerrev.48.1.0066