Aspects of Love in John Gower's Confessio Amantis

by Ellen S. Bakalian

Overview

Throughout the tales in the Confessio Amantis, John Gower proposes that reciprocal love is the remedy to what ails man and society. This book explores how Gower uses the aspects of love in the Confessio-the notions of kinde, or passionate love, and reason in the sphere of love; honeste love in the Marriage Tales of the Four Wives; passionate and excessive love in the Forsaken Women's tales; and Amans's lovesickness. In her thorough examination of Gower's work, Ellen S. Bakalian shows how Gower emphasizes and illustrates a belief that reason must rule man in all things, including his natural instincts to love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415969765
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/16/2003
Series:	Studies in Medieval History and Culture , #25
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

An independent medieval scholar who holds a doctorate in English and American Literature from New York University, Ellen S. Bakalian also has one foot firmly planted in the world of journalism. Her articles have appeared in The New Yorker and Ladies Home Journal. She also writes for the A&E's literary website, creating teaching guides for their adaptations of literary classics.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Chapter One: The Struggle between Nature and Reason in Gower's Confessio Amantis Tale of Albinus and Rosemund Tale of Pyramus and Thisbe Conclusion Chapter Two: Marriage and the Four Wives Tale of Penelope Tale of Alceone Tale of Alcestis Tale of Lucrece Conclusion Chapter Three: The Love Relationships of the Forsaken Women Tale of Deianira Tale of Medea Tale of Dido Tale of Phyllis Tale of Ariadne Conclusion Chapter Four: Lovesickness in the Confessio Amantis Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index