"THE AUTHORITY OF HER MERIT": VIRTUE AND WOMEN IN CHAUCER AND SHAKESPEARE

This research involves the feminist argument in the writings of Chaucer and Shakespeare. In the context of a Western literary tradition that denigrates the female, the canons of Chaucer and Shakespeare provide a most untraditional connection of virtue and women. The paper begins with a brief overview of the misogyny that permeates classical literature. Then the poems of Chaucer, from The Book of the Duchess to The Canterbury Tales, are examined for the ways that they champion the words and deeds of women. Finally, the plays of Shakespeare, from The Comedy of Errors to The Two Noble Kinsmen, are explored as extensions of Chaucer's arguments in favor of women and marriage. In particular, the two writers make similar statements on difference and democracy that support the connection of virtue and women. Shakespeare's drama, though, goes even further than Chaucer's poetry in challenging classical authority on the hierarchical notion of male supremacy. In fact, Shakespeare places the basic tenets of misogyny onstage to demonstrate the truth of their inadequacy. Both writers agree, however, that the female should not be subordinated to the male and that marriage should be celebrated as a source of syncretic power. Thus, in their connection of virtue and women, the two major voices of English literature produce a new argument for a syncretic balance of the sexes.