Walkynge in the mede : Chaucerian gardens and the recasting of the Edenic fall

Walkynge in the mede : Chaucerian gardens and the recasting of the Edenic fall

Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400 -- Criticism and interpretation

Fall of man in literature

Gardens in literature

Babb, Jacob Sebastian

2005

Gastle, Brian W.

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61770

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This thesis examines the way in which Geoffrey Chaucer uses biblical traditions associated with gardens, primarily the Garden of Eden and the hortus conclusus of the Song of Songs, in his own literary gardens. I argue that Chaucer manipulates these traditions to recreate his own versions of the Fall from paradise. His reasons for doing so vary from work to work, although one of the most common reasons is for the sake of irony. Two of the tales I examine are fabliaux, and it is normal in this genre for authors to invert expectations. The third tale is a Breton lay, a short romance that features a magical feat. All three tales are unique in one way or another to their tellers, who influence the meaning of Edenic recasting. The gardens within the tales all resemble the original garden in some way, whether figuratively or allegorically. By altering the story of the Fall in these tales, Chaucer challenges several basic precepts of medieval thought and tradition. In Chapter One, I demonstrate how Chaucer uses the garden as a space within which to invert responsibility for the Fall, implicating January, the Adam representative, equally as much as May, the Eve figure. In Chapter Two, I reveal how Chaucer creates a narrator whose indeterminacy does not allow for the Fall to occur at all, and how that indeterminacy translates into inactivity concerning both characters and the garden spaces. In Chapter Three, I show how Chaucer resolves an internal debate among the tales called the Marriage Debate by recreating the Fall and then allowing his characters to create a marriage based on mercantile compromise that allows for a moderated return to a state of paradise.

2014-04-28

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