A Reading of the Canterbury Tales

This 1968 study argues that there is greater unity in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales than has been supposed.

Trevor Whittock (Author)

9780521095570, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 October 1968

316 pages
19.8 x 12.9 x 1.6 cm, 0.31 kg

In this 1968 study, Dr Whittock argues that there is greater unity in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales than has been supposed. He sees the Canterbury Tales as as great religious poem, a Christian work of art in which certain topics deliberately recur, so that the Tales in sequence take on the nature of a debate on death, the role of women, marriage, the truth or deception of art, the function of evil in the Creator's plan, temporal imperfection, and the hidden mystery of God's being. The author illustrates his theme through a detailed examination of each of the Tales in turn.

Introduction: on reading Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales: 1. The Knight's Tale
2. The Miller's Tale
3. The Reeve's Tale
4. The Man of Law's Tale
5. The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale
6. The Friar and the Summoner
7. The Clerk's Tale
8. The Merchant's Tale
9. The Squire's Tale
10. The Franklin's Tale
11. The Physician's Tale
12. The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale
13. The Shipman's Tale
14. The Prioress's Tale
15. The Tales of Sir Thopas and Melibeus
16. The Monk's Tale
17. The Nun's Priest's Tale
18. The Second Nun's Tale
19. The Canon's Yeoman's Tale
20. The Manciple's Tale and the Parson's Tale
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]