Re-visioning the Canterbury Tales as an "Alternative" of the Ricardian Apocalypticism
Date Issued
2004
Date
2004
Author(s)
Cheng, Han-Hsi
DOI
en-US
Abstract
In the Canterbury Tales there is an apocalypticism for both Chaucer’s pilgrims and readers. Since the Apocalypse arouses a deep sense of an ending, a contrast between the beginning and the end in the idea of Time, I propose a survey of Time—how it is measured and discoursed—in the Canterbury Tales as a key to discovering its apocalypticism. In fact, the anxiety of Time plays an important role in this work. On the one hand, the progression of time is crucial to the narrative event of a pilgrimage, not to mention that, for a pilgrim whose ultimate destination is the New Jerusalem, references to timing are necessary information for him to be a good “vigilant” Christian semper paratus. On the other hand, references to timing as an indication of time-telling and time-passing not only remind both Chaucer’s pilgrims and readers of their status of being in the middle of a spiritual pilgrimage—looking back at the past and looking forward to the future within one’s limited period of life—but also display Chaucer’s skillful command of arithmetic.
Arithmetic is a notable element in the Canterbury Tales. Different from the numerological pattern shared by the other Ricardian poets, Chaucer’s arithmetical pattern generates a proto-rationalism, which influences conceptions of time, and thus the attitudes toward the Apocalypse. The arithmetical element in Chaucer not only distinguishes Chaucer from his contemporaries in (re)acting to the living context of fin de siècle, but also marks the Canterbury Tales as an “alternative” of the Ricardian apocalypticism.
Subjects
喬瑟
坎特伯里故事集
末世觀
時間焦慮
理查二世
算術學
The Canterbury Tales
Chaucer
Richard II
arithmetic
anxiety about time
apocalypticism
Type
thesis
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