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E. Talbot Donaldson's Article


by Candace France
Web posted at 8:03 PM on 3/14/96 from xtsd0213.it.wsu.edu.
E. Talbot Donaldson. "Chaucer the Pilgrim." Chaucer Criticism. Vol.1. Eds. Richard Schoeck and Jerome Taylor. Notre Dame: Notre Dame UP, 1960,1961. 2 vols. 1-13.

Reprinted from PMLA 69 (1954): 928-36.

Donaldson begins this discussion by commenting on the change in critical perception of Chaucer the poet from kindly naÔf to urbane witty observer. With the increasing interest in realism and the treatment of the CT as a reenactment of an actual pilgrimage, Donaldson reminds the reader that this is an imaginative reconstruction. Chaucer is not present in the guise of a reporter; his presence is a fictional construct of a pilgrim. This construct is the main interest of Donaldson's essay.

1. Donaldson finds four categories of characters in CT and discusses the pilgrim's reaction to these characters based largely on his class position (bourgeosie) relative to theirs.
a. clergy: (Prioress, Monk and Friar)
b. bourgeoisie: (Merchant, Clerk, Lawyer, Gildsman, Franklin and Physician)
c. lower classes: (Miller, Manciple, Reeve, Summoner, Pardoner)
d. good characters: (Knight, Parson and Plowman)

5. Tradition of fallible first person reportage:
a Modern example of Gulliver, who, as Donaldson says,
confused human reason with reasonable horses.
b. Other examples include Piers Plowman (Long Will) and Dante's Divine Comedy.

6. Donaldson concludes that this device of the persona (pilgrim) allows the poet to present a social world imposed on a moral world.

Question:
1. Are these valid categories for the pilgrims? For example, why doesn't Donaldson classify the clerk as good?

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