MORAL CHALLENGE AND NARRATIVE STRUCTURE: FAIRY CHAOS IN MIDDLE ENGLISH ROMANCE by Arielle C. McKee A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English West Lafayette, Indiana May 2019 ii THE PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE APPROVAL Dr. Michael Johnston, Chair Department of English Dr. Dorsey Armstrong Department of English Dr. Robyn Malo Department of English Dr. Paul Whitfield White Department of English Dr. Shaun Hughes Department of English Approved by: Dr. Manushag Powell Head of the Graduate Program iii To all those who saw the terrains of other lands in the bumps on their bedroom walls, Who hid from the dark in a story of their own making, Who imagined when they should have been napping. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS If ever the process of seeking any degree has had the makings of a gothic novel, it is this one. As such, the fact that I have made it is due in no small part to a number of extraordinary people. First, I would like to thank my committee. To Michael Johnston, my chair, for kindly encouraging me to keep puzzling out Latin, for getting (and tolerating) my random pop culture references, and for patiently helping me figure out how to write one of these dissertation things. To Dorsey Armstrong for realizing that I was a medievalist long before I caught on (and for encouragement, assistance, and a great sense of humor every step of the way). To Robyn Malo for hilarious and insightful feedback and mentorship and for the best introduction to Chaucer and Hoccleve for which a girl could possibly hope. To Paul White for bravely joining this mostly-medieval venture and bringing some Shakespeare to the party. And to Shaun Hughes for inspiring conversations and a true generosity of spirit as both a teacher and a human. Thank you as well to Ryan Schneider for helping me to see that I had thoughts worth sharing, and to Molly Martin for her kindness, her killer jokes, and her genuine largess as a mentor. Lastly, I cannot express my gratitude to and for Manushag Powell, who has unceasingly, magnanimously, and snarkily mentored the shit out of me from the moment I showed up at her office in a panic the first week of my first semester. Further, I would very certainly not have finished this dissertation without my family. Kaye, David, and Bethany McKee—you’ve been there for every tear, ridiculous typo, and occasional triumph. Your support, sarcasm, and giant microbes have made all the difference. Bethany, I am so proud of you—despite the fact that you rudely refused to stay shorter than me—and I’m lucky to have such a stellar (baby) sister. Dad, you are exactly as brilliant and funny as you know, but more generous and brave than you realize—don’t worry, no one will read this dissertation, your secret is safe. Mom, if I can be half as wise, snarky, and kind as you when I grow up, I will be amazing; thank you for reading more drafts than anyone could ever want to read and for appreciating (and ring-leading) a good prank or forty. Finally, to Ruthie: thank you for finding me and for filling my life with feistiness, curiosity, silliness, and genuine sweetness. I don’t have words for how grateful I am to and for the four of you, so. v To my friend-ily: I cannot thank any of you as much or as fully as you deserve, but I hope you know how much I admire and appreciate you. In no particular order (with apologies to anyone I have left out—it is purely a measure of my exhaustion, not my affection): Brittany Claytor, I would very literally not have finished this degree without you; thank you for your wisdom, for sharing Miese cuddles, for late-night-dessert runs, for postcard Fridays, for some truly amazing cards, and for your unceasing brilliance, compassion, and bravery. Bess Cooley, you are better than all the queso in Texas; your friendship means the world and your poetry punches me in the gut in the best possible way. Tehmina Pirzada and John Sherrill, your stupendousness is rivaled only by your tastes in food (and tea); thank you for your incredible generosity, for hair flips, and for the most hilarious games of Taboo. Wendy Wallace, the power and compassion of your prose is rivaled only by the power and compassion of your person; also, you rock “I’m on a Boat,” like nobody’s business. Saba Pirzadeh, you are more brilliant than you realize and more kind even than that; thanks for being my friend and for teaching me all about how things work in your culture. Stacey Dearing, thank you for queso time, puppy memes, great ideas, feedback, Prattsgiving, and for the gift that is “John Cena”; you are the person your dogs think you are. Aidan Holtan, thank you for all the fish-throwing threats, for reading so much of this thing, and for being one of the most generous, sassy, and wonderful people I know! Christy McCarter, your badassery is rivaled only by your kindness; thanks for saving my butt on the reg. Jaime Hough, you are the Batman-riding- a-unicorn-over-a-rainbow-of-people (which I hope says it all). Jeff Amos, you would be a phenom of a human and friend even if you were not from Austin, and that is the highest complement I know. Jonathan Buzan, thank you not only for friendship and food, but also for constant (and necessary) Jeff Goldblum content. Allison Layfield, you have all the style and I am constantly in awe of your gifts; thank you for all the pep-talks. Leah Pennywark, you are an inspiration personally and professionally; thank you for being Leah! Liz Boyle, Amy Elliot, Dan Froid, Dana Roders, and Ingrid Pierce, you are not only extraordinary colleagues, you are also exceptional friends and I am so lucky to know and to have gotten to work alongside you. To the Adonis-like Bryan Nakawaki: *ghost emoji*. And an immense thank you to Jill Quirk, Janeen Redman, Lisa Hartman, Josh Kaminski, and all the other amazing people I have met, worked with, and been lucky enough to call friends and colleagues while at Purdue. And finally, to Captain Crunch: this is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION: FAIRIES FIND A WAY ...................................................... 1 1.1 Our Fairies, Ourselves—or, What are Fairies, Anyway? ................................................... 2 1.2 @FayChaos and #MoralThinking: Fairy Narratives Get Social......................................... 8 1.3 You Fay You Want a Revolution: Are Medieval Fairies Agents of Resistance? ............. 12 1.4 Here there be…eh?: Monstrous Continuums and the Inclusion of the Otherworld ......... 15 1.5 Looking Forward............................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 2. RIVAL REALITIES AND HUMAN FAILINGS: THE TRIUMPH OF THE OTHERWORLD IN THOMAS CHESTRE’S LAUNFAL ........................................................... 28 2.1 The Home Court and Guinevere’s Surface Honor............................................................ 31 2.2 The Rival Team and Tryamour’s Internal Trothe ............................................................. 39 2.3 Narrative Structure and the Making of a New Home ....................................................... 55 CHAPTER 3. THE LAUGHING COURT: TRANSGRESSION, COSMIC REDEMPTION, AND FAIRY MOVERS IN SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT .................................... 61 3.1 The Terrestrial Plot: In Which Gawain is Made Great Again .......................................... 65 3.2 The Violence of the Otherworld: In Which the Pentangle is Broken ............................... 71 3.3 A Cosmic Becoming: In Which Plot Meets Structure ...................................................... 76 3.4 Interlude – But Are There Fairies There? ......................................................................... 86 3.5 Fairy Movers: In Which the Plot (and Structure) Thicken ............................................... 87 3.6 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 93 CHAPTER 4. WOUNDED BODIES AND WOUNDED TEXTS: FAIRY INTERVENTIONS AND NARRATIVE INJURY IN SIR ORFEO AND CHAUCER’S MERCHANT’S TALE ....... 95 4.1 Artificial Perfection and Imperfect Artistry in Sir Orfeo.................................................. 98 4.2 Cuts Like a Knife: Narrative Wounds and Textual Bodies ............................................ 103 4.3 It's the Terror of Knowing What the World is About: The Queen’s Body and the Pressure of Hereditary Succession ......................................................................................................... 111 4.4 Talkin’ (and Readin’) Body: Fairy Influence over the Textual Body of Sir Orfeo ........ 115 4.5 Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale: a Story about Control ........................................................ 119 vii 4.6 May’s Designs on The Merchant’s Tale ......................................................................... 131 4.7 Audience, Interpretation, and Textual Fluidity in The Merchant’s Tale ........................ 139 4.8 Textual Healing: Chaucer’s Fay Conclusion .................................................................. 148 CHAPTER 5. TAKING LIBERTIES,