Chaucer's Legendary Good Women [Paperback]

A comprehensive account of Chaucer's Legend of Good Women.There is little that is generally accepted about Chaucer's Legend of Good Women, and Dr Percival has attempted to provide a comprehensive and balanced account of this complex and puzzling work. The book is suitable for students needing an introduction but will challenge experienced scholars with its insights. Percival contends that we ignore at our peril any of the competing view about women in the text, the praise of women's virtue no less than the sceptical and humourous hints of traditional antifeminism.There is little that is generally accepted about Chaucer's Legend of Good Women, and Dr Percival has attempted to provide a comprehensive and balanced account of this complex and puzzling work. The book is suitable for students needing an introduction but will challenge experienced scholars with its insights. Percival contends that we ignore at our peril any of the competing view about women in the text, the praise of women's virtue no less than the sceptical and humourous hints of traditional antifeminism.Chaucer's Legend of Good Women is a testament to the disparate views of women prevalent in the Middle Ages. Dr. Percival contends that the complex medieval notion of Woman informs the structure of the poem: in the Prologue Chaucer praises conventional ideas of female virtue, while in the Legends he demonstrates a humorous skepticism, apparently influenced by a contemporary antifeminist tradition. This is a comprehensive account of the Legend's interpretative puzzles, which does not ignore the element of political writing and adds to a close and nuanced reading of the text an examination of literary, historical and social contexts.Introduction; Part I. Chaucer's Good Woman: 1. The good woman: the daisy; 2. Alceste: the good woman of legend; 3. The good woman: a legendary beast? Part II. The God of Love: 4. The God of love; 5. The accusation; 6. The defence: tyrants of Lombardy; 7. The defence: Matere and ElC8