Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

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Record Number: 4059 Author(s)/Creator(s): Kennedy , Beverly Contributor(s): Title: Cambridge MS. DD.4.24: A Misogynous Scribal Revision of the "Wife of Bath's Prologue"? Source: Chaucer Review 30, 4 ( 1996): Pages 343 - 358. Description: Article Type: Journal Article Subject (See Also): Chaucer, Geoffrey, Poet- Canterbury Tales- Wife of Bath's Prologue Interpolation Literature- Verse Manuscripts Misogyny Scribes and Scriptoria Sexuality in Literature Women in Literature Award Note: Geographic Area: British Isles Century: 14 Primary Evidence: Illustrations: Table: Abstract: Cambridge Dd.4.24 is a unique manuscript in Chaucer studies because dating indicates that a scribe copied it within 25 years of Chaucer's death and because it includes five sizable, additional sections and renumbers the Wife's husbands. The additions villify women and make the Wife of Bath more misogynistic. Examination of the these passages suggests that the scribe who copied the Prologue to the "Wife of Bath's Tale" added the material, since much of it contradicts what Chaucer has already said about the Wife. The renumbering of her husbands increases the coherence of the final section of her Prologue. Together, the interpolations and the renumbering of the husbands make the Wife merely the typical subject of estates satire. Since these changes lessen the ambiguity for which Chaucer is noted, scholars must assume that the five passages are scribal, rather than Chaucerian, revisions [Reproduced by permission of Peter G. Beidler and Martha A Kalnin Diede, editors of "The Chaucer Review: An Indexed Bibliography."]. Related Resources: Author's Affiliation: Marianopolis College Conference Info: - , - Year of Publication: 1996. Language: English ISSN/ISBN: 00092002

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