MY CHILD AND MY LIFE: SACRIFICIAL OBLIGATION AND CHAUCER by GARY SCOTT MONTAÑO Presented to the Faculty of the GraduateSchool of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON May 2011 Copyright © by Gary Scott Montaño 2011 All Rights Reserved DEDICATION For my mother Gloria Rosita Marquez Montaño Mom, everything that is at all good in me comes from you. Without your love and support, I could have accomplished nothing, and I dedicate this dissertation to you. I love you, mom, with all my heart. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many unknowingly inspire others when they demonstrate the power of dreaming and persistence. For that, thanks to: The Beatles, Paul Stanley, Eric Carr, Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Chris DeGarmo, Katy Perry, Sammy Davis Jr., B.L, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Roger Staubach, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Jackie Robinson, Mike Modano, Gina Miller, Johnny Carson, Robin Williams, Bob Denver, Tina Louise, Jerry Seinfeld, Peter O‘ Toole, Steve McQueen, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, David Caruso, Jennifer Grey, Peter Graves, Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Sam Elliott, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, John Malkovich, Sylvester Stallone, John Travolta, B & N B, Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood, Thomas Gibson, Christopher & Dana Reeve, Otto Schleiben, Michael J. Fox, Ricardo Montalbán, Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Vito Scotti, Henry Fonda, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Bruce Willis, Pope John Paul II, Joel & Victoria Osteen, Queen Elizabeth I, Diana, Princess of Wales, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., President John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and President Barack Obama. Thanks to my mentors: John Fyler, Lee Patterson, John Fleming, John Elder, Susanne Wofford, Michael Armstrong, Isobel Armstrong, Dare Clubb, Dixie Goswami, Jim Maddox, Shirley Brice Heath, Jacqueline Jones Royster, Andrea Lunsford, Paul Muldoon, Cheryl Glenn, Norvil Howell, Jim Mealy, Stephen Berenson, Brian McEleney, Cindy Rosenthal, Stephen Thorne, Ellen McLaughlin, Oskar Eustis, and Emily Bartels. Special thanks to Kevin Gustafson for your many hours of selfless and iv inspiring support and guidance, and to the other members of my committee, Jackie Stodnick, and Tim Richardson. Thanks also to those many who shared a kind word during the difficult times of this process. Finally, nothing means anything without friends and family. Without them, I could not have done this. Thanks to Fr. Gino Correa, Stephen Schadler, Doug Wood, Kevin McNulty, Abra Chernik, Chris Onken, Sandy LeGault, Robert Poe, George Mendez, and Berry Curry. My highest praise goes to my beautiful and perfect wife Shari (thanks Jack and Judy!), my perfect children Jillian and Scott, Shari‘s perfect kids, Doug and Ally, my dad Aurelio, Tío Jody and Tía Patsy, Tío Oris and Tía Betsy, Tío Larry, Tía Rosemary, Catherine Claire, the rest of my aunts and uncles, my siblings Kenny, Stan, Rick, Regan, Dominic, Ryan, and Shannon, my cousins, nieces, nephews, my grandparents Theresa, Eugenio, and José, my stepfather Max, and always, God. April 12, 2011 v ABSTRACT MY CHILD AND MY LIFE: SACRIFICIAL OBLIGATION AND CHAUCER Gary S. Montaño, PhD The University of Texas at Arlington, 2011 Supervising Professor: Kevin Gustafson Medieval literature demonstrates that Christians of that era took their Bible seriously, particularly the Old Testament account of Abraham‘s sacrifice of Isaac. For them, the story was both fascinating and perplexing. Not only was Abraham one of the most revered figures, but he was also one of the most frustrating. He was admired for his ability to obey God‘s directive to sacrifice Isaac, but because he does so without displaying an ounce of emotion, that admiration is often coupled with irritation. How could a father as loving as Abraham remain expressionless and emotionless as he raised the knife to kill his son? To explain why, Church fathers espoused various methods of exegesis. But for many, the Church‘s teachings proved less than satisfactory, as is indicated by medieval writers, particularly the dramatists, who seized upon the Abraham and Isaac story in an effort to explain not only Abraham‘s lack of emotion, but also Isaac‘s reaction, one the Bible conspicuously omits. Among these writers was Chaucer, vi who knew well the Abraham and Isaac story. His tales on religion and morality qualify as variations of the passage as presented not only in the Bible, but also in medieval drama. The Hugelyn episode in the Monk‟s Tale, the Prioress‟ Tale, the Physician‟s Tale, the Man of Law‟s Tale, and the Clerk‟s Tale each present children as sacrificial figures. Through them, Chaucer explores the issues of his day that the Abraham and Isaac story presents: silence, affective piety, gender, salvation, and death. The tales demonstrate that sacrifice is often necessary for restoring balance on a personal and societal level. And like the Abraham and Isaac story makes obvious, those who remain steadfast in their faith through their darkest hour are rewarded by God. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................iv ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................vi Chapter Page 1. PIECES OF THE ACTION: MEDIEVAL NOTIONS OF CHILDHOOD, SACRIFICE, AND CHAUCER…………………………………1 2. THE ROAD TO EDEN: HUGELYN‘S RESIGNATION AND THE ABSURD…………………………………………………………………….......43 3. AND THE CHILD SHALL LEAD: THE LITTLE CLERGEON AND HIS GIFT………………………………………………………………………..75 4. TOMORROW BRINGS YESTERDAY: VIRGINIA AND THE CURSE OF THE GOLDEN AGE…………………………….........................................112 5. SHE WHO SURVIVES: CUSTANCE FROM ISAAC TO ABRAHAM……................................................................................................146 6. ON THIS SIDE OF PARADISE: GRISELDA AND THE PRIVACY OF SILENCE……………………………………………………………..……187 EPILOGUE……………………………………………………………………………..222 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………228 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION…………………………………………………...260 viii CHAPTER 1 PIECES OF THE ACTION: MEDIEVAL NOTIONS OF CHILDHOOD, SACRIFICE, AND CHAUCER My Child and My Life explores a topic not generally investigated in Chaucerian studies: the violence faced by children and its relationship to sacrifice in the tales of religion and morality in the Canterbury Tales.1 Indeed, violence toward children seems to be an issue most literary critics tend to overlook or even ignore since very few studies take up the question of children, or more specifically, children who suffer egregiously in terms of sacrifice and violence. Daniel T. Kline accurately points out that ―children, in short, have rarely been the subject of study in Middle English literature‖ (20).2 To add to that, René Girard writes in Violence and the Sacred, ―Why…do we never explore the relationship between sacrifice and violence?‖ (2).3 Girard suggests that ―many modern theorists…give it only scant attention…undoubtedly because they feel that it introduces into the discussion religious and moral values that are incompatible with true scientific inquiry‖ (3-4). Although Girard‘s question appeared decades ago, only recently has a 1 For this study, the term ―violence,‖ in addition to its most common association with injurious physical force, also includes as part of its meaning, the exercise of power toward the powerless in a mental or emotional manner that is abusive or unjust. Similarly, the term ―sacrifice,‖ while commonly designating an offering or taking of physical life, also means in a broader sense, the forfeiture, submission, or destruction of that which is highly valued for the sake of something considered as having a more pressing claim or greater value. 2 ―Textuality, Subjectivity, and Violence: Theorizing the Figure of the Child in Middle English Literature.‖ Essays in Medieval Studies 12 (1995): 16–25. 3 Trans. Patrick Gregory. New York: John Hopkins UP, 1979. 1 significant corpus regarding sacrifice and violence begun to emerge.1 That corpus, however, still remains scant when it comes to the children and the violence they face in Chaucer‘s tales. Children With No Childhood Perhaps children in Chaucer have been relatively ―absent‖ in the study of Middle English literature because precisely defining ―children‖ or ―child‖ proves perplexing and controversial. Definitions found in the Bible, the Oxford English Dictionary, and other sources2 at the very least fall under the category of ―broad‖ in the medieval West. The term ―child,‖ referring to Benjamin in a Wycliffite translation of Genesis, indicates his age to be at least thirty.3 Additionally, ―child‖ or ―bairn,‖ according to the OED, in religious contexts ―extended to youths approaching or entering upon manhood.‖ Conversely, the OED also defines ―child‖ as ―A young person of either sex below the age of puberty; a boy or girl,‖ and actually references Chaucer‘s Prioress‟ Tale.4 Nicholas Orme‘s studies of medieval children also follow along scriptural lines, classifying 1 See René Girard, Job: The Victim of His People. Trans. Yvonne Freccero. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1987; The Scapegoat. Trans. Yvonne Freccero. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1986; Dudley Young, Origins of the Sacred. New York: St. Martin's P, 1991; Jon D.Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1993; Gil Bailie, Violence Unveiled: