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The Rich Diversity of Meanings of the Pardoners Tale Essay

The Rich Diversity of Meanings of the Pardoners Tale Chaucer’s innovation in the Pardoner’s performance tests our concept of dramatic irony by suggesting information regarding the Pardoner’s sexuality, gender identity, and spirituality, major categories in the politics of identity, without confirming that information. Our presumed understanding of the Pardoner as a character lacks substantiation. As we learn about the Pardoner through the narrator’s eyes and ears, we look to fit the noble ecclesiaste (l. 708) into the figure shaped by our own prejudices and perceptions, as any active reader must do. But the Pardoner, ever aware of his audience, does not offer clear clues to his personality. This break between what the other†¦show more content†¦What exactly do we now about the Pardoner? Much of our understanding of him as a literary human being rests on several key descriptive statements in the text, most about his appearance. They fail, however, to paint as full a portrait as we would like, but the se descriptions amount to a generally negative picture. The General Prologue offers a first impression of the Pardoner which has affected his interpreted characterization to this day. The narrator, having met with each of the pilgrims and learned something of their characters, offers a portrait of each of them before the tales begin. In his description of the Pardoner, the narrator notes his traveling companion, his most prominent physical features (including his questionable sexuality), his newe jet fashion (l. 682), his relics, and his professional status. One focus of much criticism of the past fifty years has been the Pardoner’s sexuality/gender identity. The narrator explicitly uses animal imagery in his portrait of the Pardoner, comparing him to a hare (l. 684), a goot (l. 688), and a geldying or a mare (l. 691), suggesting that the Pardoner is something subhuman (Faulkner 4). These animals were also figuratively indicative of sexual abnormality in medieval times.

A Poet Portfolio of James Joyce Free Essays

James Augustine Joyce was born on the 2nd of February 1882 to a couple in Dublin. Two of his ten siblings died young from typhoid. As a boy, James studied at a boarding school in County Kildare. We will write a custom essay sample on A Poet Portfolio of James Joyce or any similar topic only for you Order Now When his father could no longer pay the fees, the young Joyce transferred to a Christian Brothers school. However, Joyce rejected Catholicism in 1898 although philosophies of St. Thomas Aquinas became a strong influence in him even after he had left the brothers (Bradley 23). He studied modern languages at the University College Dublin in 1898. His first published work was a review of Ibsen’s New Drama in 1900 which resulted in a letter of thanks from the Norwegian dramatist himself (Ellmann 13). Joyce left for Paris immediately after graduating. Unfortunately, he ended up squandering what little fortune his family still had. He returned to Ireland shortly after only to witness the final days of his mother who died of cancer in August 13, 1903. James resorted to heavy drinking after his mothers death, at the same time trying to make a meager living out of reviewing books, teaching and singing (Ellmann 15). In 1904, he met a young woman from Connemara by the name of Nora Barnacle who worked as a chambermaid who later on became his wife. The couple moved from Dublin and James experienced a great deal of trouble in finding work (Ellmann 16). James’ two major contributions to poetry are the books Chamber Music which is his first full length collection composed of 36 short lyrics published in 1907 and Pomes Penyeach which was published in twenty years later. (Ellmann 25) James’ works have been highly scrutinized by several well known personalities in their own right such as Mà ¡irtà ­n Ó Cadhain, Jorge Luis Borges, Flann O’Brien, and Samuel Beckett. He died on the 11th of January 1941 following complications after surgery for a perforated ulcer. James Joyce’s life is annually celebrated as Bloomsday every June 16 in Dublin and in other cities around the world. (Ellmann 20) How to cite A Poet Portfolio of James Joyce, Papers