English 329 -- Chaucer

1. The "idea" of woman (as opposed to women) in Chaucer.
2. The function of a traditional metaphor or image in several works.
3. The illuminations of the Ellesmere manuscript as a commentary by a medieval `reader'.
4. Death as a friend or an enemy in Chaucer's poetry.
5. Characterization in the Knight's Tale and the Teseida.
6. Levels of meaning in the Miller's Tale.
7. The Miller's Tale as a commentary on the Knight's Tale.
8. Contrasting views of love in two poems by Chaucer.
9. Characterization in the fabliau or in the romances.
10. A comparison of a work by Chaucer with its `source'.
11. The appropriateness of a tale to the teller of the tale in the Canterbury Tales.
12. Antifeminism in Chaucer's poetry.
13. Allegory in the Clerk's Tale.
14. The Pardoner as an outsider or marginal figure.
15. Appearance and reality in the Franklin's Tale.
16. Gentilesse in the Franklin's Tale (and elsewhere in Chaucer).
17. Character analysis in Troilus and Criseyde.
18. Free will in Troilus and Criseyde, or the role of the stars, or the narrator's rebellion against his source.
19. Characterization of the narrator in Troilus and Criseyde.
20. Attitudes toward authority in Chaucer.