Description
TitleDramatizations of authority in Chaucer and Maidstone
Date Created2015
Other Date2015-05 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (iii, 38 p.)
DescriptionThis thesis examines the connections between sovereignty, spectacle, and public ceremony in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale and Richard Maidstone’s Concordia facta inter regem et cives Londonie [The Reconciliation of the King and Citzens of London]. I begin by looking at The Knight’s Tale and Concordia to unveil the intricacies of public ceremony and spectacle as political tools for medieval rule. As spectacle of sovereign expenditure serves as a signifier of sovereignty, public ceremony serves as an occasion for displaying such politically motivated spectacle. However, within ceremony, such spectacle is not simply displayed, but becomes scripted into a collaborative performance and social drama. The signification of sovereign authority, then, is developed and complicated by the ceremonial social drama that aids the display. Therefore, the title of this thesis, dramatizations of authority, sets ahead two distinct though conjoined matters: (1) the aesthetic design in which authority is dramatized and (2) the authoritative power of the dramatizations themselves to determine political relations and the overall social reality. The more contemporary Georges Bataille, in his The Accursed Share, provides theoretical support to this examination while later historical facts encourage a reading of The Knight’s Tale for its depiction and critique of dramatizations of authority, specifically those during the reign of Richard II. Thus, after using The Knight’s Tale and Concordia to understand the design of the royal entry ceremony in particular, I focus on the critical perspectives each text posits on the medieval custom. Ultimately, in The Knight’s Tale, Chaucer mocks Richard II’s dependence on public ceremony and spectacle as a tool for wielding power as well as the reverence and faith with which masses of citizens, like Maidstone, esteemed the royal entry ceremony. The Knight’s Tale may be read as a warning to medieval (and contemporary) readers to be conscious and skeptical of the social influence that dramatizations of authority impact.
NoteM.A.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Cristina L. Chillem
Genretheses, ETD graduate
Languageeng
CollectionCamden Graduate School Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.