Date of Award

Spring 5-2017

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Program

English

Department

English

Major Professor

Dr. Kevin Marti

Second Advisor

Dr. Daniel Doll

Third Advisor

Dr. Robert Shenk

Abstract

In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, The Monk's Tale is compromised of seventeen individual tales, which instead of serving a moral lesson one would expect of a clergy member, serves as a quasi-hunt that allows the Monk to participate in his favorite, violent hobby. The Monk personifies fortune as a hunter, striking down successful men who are unsuspecting of the violent downfall which awaits them. The Monk structures his tale to resemble the different stages of a hunt and fills it with violent, animalistic, and erotic imagery that works to strengthen the Monk's perception of his own masculinity while simultaneously providing a form of sexual pleasure that he is otherwise forbidden to experience. Hunting played a significant role in medieval society and literature. Though clergy members were typically forbidden or discouraged from participating in the sport, significant aspects of the history surrounding medieval hunting shed light on the Monk's identity as primarily a hunter.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

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