1. Cite some variations in the Loathly Lady fabula across the three tales in your Reader. Focus on the conditions by which the lady is either beautiful or ugly, and the actions of the knight/king/"hero"...
2. The Wife of Bath's Tale is considered by some critics to indicate that Chaucer may have been a feminist. Why might they believe this? Do you agree? Remember to cite evidence from the text or some other source.
3.Hahn's essay (see critical reader)on The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle identifies the motif of the loathly lady, but arguesit has a different purpose than asserting the feminine. What does he think the function of the story is?
4. In the context of Elizabethan and Jacobean sonnets, how can we define "conceits"?
5. Discuss what you think is the most striking or outrageous example.
6. What does Revard (1997) suggest about the relationship between language, sex, power and transgression in the English Renaissance?
Sarah Hosking
ReplyDelete6. What does Revard (1997) suggest about the relationship between language, sex, power and transgression in the English Renaissance?
Females in Renaissance England had small representation within the poetry community at the time, and along with that; a rather patronising critical review of their work. Abraham Cowley in 1656 wrote "Pindarique Odes" which at the time was one of the most respected poems for this genre.
Revard suggests that Cowley, though respecting and ackowledging his female colleagues never assessed their work on a equal standard, but rather judged them first by their sex. "Cowley's Pindarics begin by looking at the woman first. The issue of sex becomes so important a motif that the assessment of Philips as a poet takes second place." (Revard, 1997).
Revard also goes on to mention that when there is competition between the two sexes either in terms of love or a contest of wit like poetry, that Cowley "actually limits the woman that it seems to praise, linking her wit to her beauty and confining her to a sphere where she is judged as a woman first and a poet second."(Revard, 1997).
Here Revard is suggesting that woman in this period couldn't have their work taken seriously because their works were always going to be marginalised by their 'feminim beauty'.
Evidence of this can be seen in Cowleys poem "On the Death of Sir Anthony Vandyke, the famous Painter"(Cowley, A. 1806) where Crowley professes his saddness and makes relation to that of Vandyke's paintings then continues on,
"His All-resembling Pencil did out-pass
The Mimick Imag'ry of Looking-glass,
Nor was his Life less perfect than his Art.
Nor was his Hand less erring than his Heart(p,39).
Unlike "On the Death of Mrs Katherine Philips" Cowley only commends her poetic works in thinly veiled compliment, instead drawing attention to her beauty as if that was her greatest accomplishment.
References
Cowley, Abraham. (1806). The Works of Abraham Cowley. London. Printed for G. Kearsley, Fleet-Street.
Revard, S.P. (1997) "Katherine Philiips, Aphra Behn, and the Female Pindaric In Representing Women in Renaissance England. University of Missouri Press
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ReplyDelete4. In the context of Elizabethan and Jacobean sonnets, how can we define "conceits"?
DeleteAccording to the Free Dictionary online, “conceits” in an Elizabethan/Jacobean sense are elaborate images or far-fetched comparisons.
In the context of Elizabethan and Jacobean sonnets, the conceits can be defined as figurative form of speech. According to Abrams (1993), ‘conceits’ used as metaphors to express satire, puns or deeper meanings within the poem and to display descriptive words. So, I think conceits is a cleaver compassion used for artist which makes their works more attractive, innovate and special; it is a technical term of English literature. There are some linguistic and philosophical features in poems. In Shakespeare one, the word ‘temperate’ is a polysemic form which can mean ‘moderate’, ‘reasonable’ or ‘constant’. The polysemic makes the meanings widely to the whole content of this poem. Furthermore, I think ‘time’ functions paradox. From the aspect of respecting the similar word; temperate and time emphasizes the topic. In the third line sentence, ‘buds’ include the delicate mind of lover’s beauty by using personification. The word ‘ice’ and ‘fire’ used antithesis from in the poem. Ice means the lack of interest and the fire includes love, passion and desire. A conceit invites the reader into a more sophisticated understanding of an object of comparison. They are the opposite meanings.
Reference:
Abrams, M.H. (1993). The Norton anthology of English literature, 6th ed. New York: W.W. Norton and company, Inc., p.1081.
The Free Dictionary. (2012). Definition of “conceit”. Retrieved on April 23, 2012 from: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/conceit
1. Cite some variations in the Loathly Lady fabula across the three tales in your Reader. Focus on the conditions by which the lady is either beautiful or ugly, and the actions of the knight/king/"hero"...
ReplyDeleteThe Loathly Lady motif was a common device in medieval literature, typified by the presence of a wise but unsightly old hag who is transformed into a beautiful maiden by the contextualizing narrative’s resolution. Our Reader refers to The Wife of Bath’s Tale, The Tale of Florent and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle as works in which this motif is particularly essential but in which slight variations can be observed. Indeed, these variations generally relate to the emphasis on the immediate issues of femininity or on the symbolic matters relating to sovereignty and nobility.
To this end, in The Wife of Bath’s Tale, the old hag that the knight meets on his travels has given some clue as to her mystical orientation. Upon the knight’s first arrival to their place of meeting, he spies 24 young maidens frolicking in a clearing. It is appropriate than, that the emphasis in Chaucer’s work seems to be the mystique of the female, with the question concerning that which a woman truly wants driving the denouement. This is distinct from the emphasis in Florent and Gawain, whose primary interest appears to be the reinforcement of that which is good and chivalrous in knighthood. Indeed, the misdeed of rape which precedes the knight’s quest in Bath’s Tale differs considerably in nature from the questions of land ownership that drive the other two tales. According to our Reader, “the difference between Chaucer’s redaction and John Gower’s contemporaneous version suggests that Chaucer is more interested in the gender role destabilization of the vehicle, the allegorical motif, than in the issues of kingship that lie at the core of most loathly lady tales. In the Tale of Florent Gower’s focus is on his protagonist’s ideal behavior as offering a model of knightly excellence” (p. 81-82) And consistent with characterizations of Arthur and Gawain in other installments of the Arthurian legend, Gawain takes also as its raison d’etre the idealization of noble behavior and sovereignty of land.
2. The Wife of Bath's Tale is considered by some critics to indicate that Chaucer may have been a feminist. Why might they believe this? Do you agree?
ReplyDeleteHere, some continuity from the previous question is appropriate. Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale differs from other ‘loathly lady’ tales in its apparent symbolic focus. While details such as the emphasis on physical beauty as the idealization of femininity cause us to doubt Chaucer’s feminist orientation, there are myriad other implications that suggest this to be a highly gender-egalitarian work for the late 14th century.
Particularly compelling to this argument is the ultimate ambition of the hag, which is to demonstrate the female attribute desiring personal freedom of choice. This notion, couched in discussions of sovereignty, is ultimately realized by a resolution in which the hag presents the night with a choice. When asked to choose between a hideous and faithful wife or a beautiful and promiscuous one, the knight tells the hag that the decision must instead be hers to make. This true recognition and understanding of the female need for sovereignty drives the Chaucer story to its happy conclusion. It is thus that, as our reader asserts, “Chaucer’s foregrounding of gender exploits the shapeshifting loathly lady motif as a vehicle for examining the sphere of heterosexual power contestation.” (p. 82) Here, the knight is instructed to give the power of decision to his unsightly but betroghted, and in doing so, is ultimately rewarded. That this reward comes in spite of his earlier misdeeds suggest the relative standards dictating femininity in Chaucer’s time. Nonetheless, and particularly relative to other variations on the loathly lady motif, Chaucer’s is a work of some gender-relational progressiveness.
3.Hahn's essay (see critical reader)on The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle identifies the motif of the loathly lady, but arguesit has a different purpose than asserting the feminine. What does he think the function of the story is?
ReplyDeleteThe particular connection to themes of femininity in Chaucer’s work owes to the writer’s elevation of themes relating to womanhood, beauty and femininity. Despite the fact that a similar element of female duplicity is used to carry the narrative in The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, there is a clear divergence here in the texts more symbolic use of the transforming hag. Here, the hag is instead a respresentation of land sovereignty, ownership and excellence in nobility. Where the challenge facing Chaucer’s knight is instigated by his violation of a woman, Arthur’s challenge is elicited by Gawain’s violation of a tract of land instead.
Thus, even as the focus of the proceedings turns to a quest regarding femininity and to Gawain’s marriage to the loathly lady, the matters of sovereignty and nobility are the dominant forces. Beyond the fact that the notion of sovereignty is explicitly invoked by the hag herself (a feature common to Chaucer’s telling), Gawain’s actions in relation to the hag have more to do with his nobility and loyalty to Arthur than to any feelings regarding female entitlement. As Hahn points out, “Sir Gawain’s reputation as a chivalric hero rides to a large extent on his talent for ‘luf talkyng’. . . and courtesy towards women, though according to Ragnelle, these in turn are motivated by his fealty to the king.” (p. 18) In this regard, the matters of sovereignty come to represent far more explicitly those issues relating to land ownership and knighthood than to any prioritization of gender equality.