On Chaucer, Raptus, and the "Physician's Tale."
- Author/Editor
- Bartlett, Robyn A.
- Title
- On Chaucer, Raptus, and the "Physician's Tale."
- Published
- Bartlett, Robyn A. "On Chaucer, Raptus, and the Physician's Tale." Exemplaria 35, no. 4 (2023): 259-83.
- Review
- "In the 'Physician's Tale'," Bartlett argues, "Chaucer presents a legal case that functions solely as a ruse to enable sexual assault" (259). Her focus is thus almost entirely on Chaucer, drawing parallels between Chaucer's tale and the "raptus" charge in legal documents relating to Cecily Chaumpaigne brought forward by Euan Roger and Sebastian Sobecki, responding to Roger's and Sobecki's revelation. Bartlett offers a succinct explanation of medieval "raptus" before exclaiming that Roger's and Sobecki's findings are "not a set of new facts, but new documents" (260). She, in essence, counters the reactions of medievalists who thought Chaucer exonerated: "these documents and the 'big reveal' in which we learned about them are illuminated by the very lessons of the "Physician's Tale" imparts about gendered labor, sexual assault, and discursive power--who holds that power, and what happens when that power is challenged" (260). In making her case, Bartlett examines other versions of this tale, explaining that in Gower's CA, "the focus is . . . overtly political" (264). She continues to examine the tale, offering close readings to support her case. Gower's version of the tale is used a few times in contrast to Chaucer's, namely to show the alterations Chaucer makes in what Bartlett presents as a blatant attempt to excuse sexual assault. [JGS. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 43.1]
- Date
- 2023
- Gower Subjects
- Confessio Amantis
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations