For Monday: Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 1

David Tennant as Touchstone in a 1996 RSC production 

Okay, we've watched a version of As You Like It, so you know the general story and characters, at least enough to really pay attention a second time around. We're going to read Act 1 for Monday, and as you read, think about the choices the film made, and where perhaps you might have made different choices. What did the film help you see...and what did the text help you understand?

Answer two of the following as usual:

Q1: Unusually for Shakespeare, almost the entirety of Act 1 is...prose! Why do you think this is? And where does the act switch into verse? Can you tell why it does, and why it switches back into the default mode of prose? 

Q2: Shakespeare's comedies are known for their wit, which is very different than outright humor or jokes. As the Notes in our volume explain, wit is "the mind or the mental faculties, specifically the faculty of reason; intelligence, cleverness, wisdom; and good judgment" (208). Where do we see an example of wit in the First Act? What makes this passage different than simple jokes to get cheap laughs from the audience? 

Q3: For the first time in any of our readings, we see two women who are friends, and whose relationship dominates the entire First Act. What makes their friendship unusual and interesting? What do you think Shakespeare is trying to show by portraying it? Also, does it pass the Bechdel Test? (look that up, if you don't know what it is...) 

Q4: In many of Shakespeare's plays, we find brothers (sometimes, twins) who are opposed to one another. In this play, we have two: Duke Frederick and Duke Senior, and Orlando and Oliver. Do we understand why Duke Frederick and Oliver hate and plot against their brothers? How seriously should we take their evil acts? 

For Monday: Reading Exam #2

 No reading this week! Instead, we're going to have our second Reading Exam in class on Monday, which is basically an in-class writing response to The Canterbury Tales--so please bring your book! The question should only take you about 20-25 minutes to respond to (depending on how much you like writing in-class), and we'll have time to discuss it afterwards. 

On Wednesday, I'm going to introduce the world of Shakespeare and his language to prepare for our viewing of As You Like It, which we'll actually watch in its entirety before reading the play (we'll watch it next week). And of course on Friday your Paper #1 is due, so no class--just work on the paper.

To help put you into the proper mindset for writing, here's a video from Ensemble Unicorn, an early-music group that specializes in the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This is a "Saltarello," a famous dance piece from Italy that would have been played by roving music groups in Chaucer's time. So you can imagine the Wife of Bath, the Miller, and maybe even the Pardoner dancing to it! (but not the Knight; he's far too dignified for that...his son would, though!). 

Enjoy!

For Friday: Chaucer, "The Pardoner's Tale"

 

Questions for “The Pardoner’s Tale”

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Why does the Pardoner’s Tale also begin with a lengthy Prologue, especially considering it doesn’t have a lot to obviously do with the Tale that follows (unlike the Wife of Bath). Does it change or contradict how we read or understand the Tale itself? Could we even argue that the Prologue and the Tale are written by two different people?

Q2: The Pardoner says the theme of all his sermons is “money is the root of all evil.” Why does he specialize in this theme, and what does his theme suggest about the profession of ‘pardoning’ in general?

Q3: The Pardoner’s Tale is a classic medieval allegory: three ‘brothers’ arming themselves to find and murder Death. Why don’t they recognize him when they find him? What makes it so easy for Death to win, according to the Pardoner (or Chaucer)?

Q4: Why does the Pardoner try to sell his relics and pardons to the entire group after his sermon? Don’t they already know that both are worthless after hearing his Prologue? Why does Chaucer include this humorous sales pitch?

Paper #1 Assignment, due NEXT Friday, September 23rd by 5pm

English 2643

Paper #1: Don’t Shoot the Messenger!

 

But still I hope the company won’t reprove me

Though I should speak as fantasy may move me

And please don’t be offended at my views;

They’re really only offered to amuse.

--Wife of Bath’s Prologue

INTRO: It’s interesting that not only The Wife of Bath, but Chaucer himself, offers this apology to his readers, since the frank and vulgar nature of their tales could indeed offend some readers (then, and today). Of course, the same is true of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which claims to only be telling a second-hand story of Gawain which the poet claimed had been “inked in stories bold and strong”. Why do both poets adopt this polite and obsequious mask? Were they really scared of censure or scandal? Or this an artistic ploy to set the satire of each work in greater relief? Maybe a bit of both??

PROMPT: In your paper, I want you to discuss TWO moments (one in each poem) where you see the ‘mask’ come off, and the author seems to speak loud and clear through his characters or the narration itself. In other words, where do the poets frankly contradict the idea that their stories are “only offered to amuse,” and/or were just accomplished works of literary transcription? Show us where the poet is obviously using the excuse of telling a ‘true story’ to introduce real-world satire, scandalous opinions, or outright ridicule against certain members of their audience. Where does the intelligent reader finally go, “no, I think you wrote this yourself, and you wanted to drive in the nail as far as it would go!” You can choose passages that are thematically linked, or even ones that slightly contradict one another. Just make sure we can see the satire that rises above the story.

REQUIREMENTS: At least 3-4 pages double spaced, though you can do more. Be sure to CLOSE READ two passages from each work to examine the satire, the author’s voice, and the targets of each poet’s critique. Focus more on the language than the plot, and try to avoid giving me an elaborate blow-by-blow of the action. However, do offer context for each quote, and then show me WHY things happen. Be sure to use quotations from each poem in your paper, and cite them according to MLA format as below:

IN-TEXT CITATION

In “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue,” Chaucer has the Wife make the lame apology that her story and its preface are “really only offered to amuse” (263).

WORKS CITED PAGE

Chaucer, Geoffery. “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.” The Canterbury Tales. Translated

Nevill Coghill. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.

For Wednesday: Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Tale"

Answer TWO of the following for next class:

Q1: In a way, the Wife opens her poem much in the same way the Gawain poet opens his, with a description of the natural wonders of Camelot. But what makes her prelude somewhat different? What does she want us to see about the world of "good olde days" England? Was Camelot really a chivalric utopia? 

Q2: The Wife's Tale satirizes chivalry in much the same way that Gawain does, though from a different perspective. What makes her Tale somewhat sharper, and less forgiving, than Sir Gawain? Do you think her knight fails worse than Gawain does?

Q3: The Wife's Tale in some ways sounds just like the stereotypical stories about shrewish wives that Medieval literature loved to tell themselves (see the post about the Prologue for two excerpts of these poems). Why do you think Chaucer had the Wife tell a somewhat traditional story about knights and Camelot, rather than a story about Alisons and Absalons? Is she purposely telling the 'wrong' story? Or the right one? 

Q4: At the very end of the story, instead of sleeping with the Old Woman as he promised, the knight laments that "You're so old, and abominably plain,/So poor to start with, so low-bred to follow;/It's little wonder if I twist and wallow!" How does the Old Woman respond to his misgivings, and how do we know that this is The Wife herself speaking here (and maybe just behind her, Chaucer)? 

For Monday: Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Prologue"

No questions for Monday, but please read "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" (not the Tale) for class. We'll have an in-class writing when you get there, and here are some ideas to think about as you read (including a few excerpts from the kind of Medieval literature that was common at the time): 

(you don't have to answer these--they're just ideas to think about)

* How does Chaucer expand his portrait of the Wife of Bath from the General Prologue in her own Prologue? What does he add or embellish? Is he more satirical here? Or more reverent? How are we supposed to respond to her characterization?

* Do you think his audience would find her interpretation of Scripture shocking or even blasphemous? What about the church figures in the Canterbury pilgrimage?

* What are the Wife’s views about marriage, considering she’s been married five times (and is looking for a sixth)? Does she believe in love or wedded bliss? Or is she ruthlessly cynical like the Miller?

* Do you feel the Wife is a forward-looking depiction of a Medieval woman,  even somewhat proto-feminist? Or is she ultimately another caricature of an over-sexed harpy that likes to beat her husbands into submission? In other words, is she just a middle-aged Alison from “The Miller’s Tale”?

ALSO, if you have time, read the following short texts that are contemporary with Chaucer and are critical of women. These are the kinds of works that The Wife of Bath is responding to in her own Prologue and Tale.

TWO MEDIEVAL TEXTS AGAINST WOMEN/MARRIAGE 

* All excerpts from Women Defamed and Women Defended: An Anthology of Medieval Texts, ed. Alcuin Blamries. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1992.

Anonymous, Against Marrying (c.1222-50)

A married man’s a slave for sure,

His flesh and spirit pain endure—

Like ox from market homeward led

To work the plough until he’s dead.

 

Who take a wife accepts a yoke:

Not knowing pain, with pain he’ll choke.

Who takes a wife, himself is caught

And to eternal serfdom bought...

 

A woman will receive all males:

No prick against her lust prevails.

For who could fill his spouse’s spout?

Alone she wears the district out.

 

Her lustful loins are never stilled:

By just one man she’s unfulfilled.

She’ll spread her legs to all the men

But, ever hungry, won’t say “When.”

Jehan Le Fèvre, The Lamentations of Mathelous (c. 1371-2)

“Many a war is begun by women and many a murder committed throughout the world; castles are burned and ransacked and the poor made destitute. As every man and woman knows, there isn’t one war in a thousand that isn’t started by a woman and her sowing of discord. She is the mother of all calamities; all evil and all madness stem from her. Her sting is more venomous than a snake’s; there isn’t anyone who has anything to do with her that doesn’t live to regret it...

Now you can see how foolhardy it is to take a wife...What is the point of your studying the matter? Don’t get married, have mistresses. If you are weak by nature, it will be safer for you to have a hundred of them rather than devote yourself to one; treat them as if they were no more important than a straw...Woman is a monstrous hermaphrodite, proving to be a chimera with horns and a tail bigger than a peacock or a pheasant’s. Thus she bears the marks of a monster, as this treatise informs you...their sex in no way prepares them to be virtuous or to do good, indeed they are predisposed to do the very opposite.”

For Friday: Chaucer, "The Miller's Prologue & Tale"

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: Why do you think the Miller responds to the Knight’s tale by saying “I’ve got a splendid tale for the occasion/To pay the night out with, and cap his tale”? What is he responding to (or irritated by)?  Why might a low-class listener (who to be fair, is quite drunk) find fault in the Knight’s tale of bathetic chivalry?

Q2: Related to the question above, how is “The Miller’s Tale” a comic variation on “The Knight’s Tale”? What are the similarities and the slight—but telling—differences? How can we tell that he’s winking at the Knight as he tells it, as if to say “do you recognize your tale?” Consider how films today often parody other more serious films...how is the Miller playing into this tradition?

Q3: Discuss the role of Alison in “The Miller’s Tale”: is she a typically powerless woman seduced and controlled by men, or is she the actual ‘hero’ of the tale? How does the Miller—or Chaucer—want us to ‘read’ Alison, particularly in light of the depiction of Emily in “The Knight’s Tale.”

Q4; Chaucer makes an elaborate apology for this tale, writing “I’m sorry that I must repeat it here/And therefore, I entreat all decent folk/For God’s sake don’t imagine that I speak/With any evil motive...And so, should anyone not wish to hear,/Turn the page over, choose another tale.” Why do you think Chaucer includes such a bawdy, low-humor tale in his collection since he could have easily cleaned it up? Do you think low comedy and sexual humor has a place in literature? Did they have different standards in the 14th century, or is Chaucer merely part of an old tradition we still take part in today? 

For Wednesday: Chaucer, "The Knight's Tale, Parts III & IV"

Finish "The Knight's Tale" for Wednesday's class and remember what we discussed on Friday--about the different narrators in the piece, and how we can tell (if we can tell!) which one of them is speaking when. Is it the Knight? The Poet-Narrator? Or Chaucer himself, speaking through one of them? 

Answer TWO of the following: 

Q1: Why does The Knight lavish such detail on the temples of Mars, Venus, and Diana? For someone who wants to cut to the chase, why does he lose himself in all the seemingly unnecessary detail? Or is there something Chaucer wants us to see here? Who is really writing these passages?

Q2: "Bathos" means an attempt to write great, moving poetry that utterly fails and becomes ridiculous, lame, or simply laughable. Throughout the poem, the Knight has many bathetic moments, either because he isn't the best poet, or he's satirizing the "lovers" in the poem. Discuss a moment which you think is bathetic and makes the poem temporarily come crashing down around the Knight's feet (hint: look at the speeches!). 

Q3: Discuss Theseus' final speech in the poem: since the Knight probably identifies with Theseus, what sentiments is he pronouncing here? How is he trying to end the poem? Do you think Chaucer concurs with this--or is he still mocking the Knight's pretensions? 

Q4: Chaucer (or the Knight) doesn't allow Emily much room to be a character in her own right...but what does she reveal about herself, or the Medieval woman, in the poem? How does she comment on the practice of chivalric love from a woman's perspective?