The Pardoner's Homosexuality and How It Matters
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23130235 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Monica E Mcalpine (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1980 |
| Volume | 95 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 8-22 |
| Publication date | 1980-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0030-8129 • E-ISSN: 1938-1530 |
| Publisher | Modern Language Association (MLA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/461730 |
| OpenAlex | W2325462967 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
Evidence from other medieval texts suggests that the phrase “a mare” in the portrait of Chaucer’s Pardoner should be translated “a homosexual.” While the establishment of this gloss does not eliminate the alternative interpretation of the Pardoner as a “geldyng” or eunuch, it does obligate us to explore the implications of the Pardoner’s possible homosexuality. His pardons and relics provide a link between this sexually anomalous Christian and his church. Unable to confess his sin, the Pardoner seeks forgiveness vicariously through the sale of pardons; believing his body to be a vessel of sin, he seeks, through the display of relics, affirmation that his body is also a temple of God. Although Chaucer sees homosexual acts as sinful, he appears not to view them as uniquely detestable; the suggestion of homosexuality contributes not to the portrait of a damned soul but to the representation of the “sondriness” of humanity.
Art · Art history · Forgiveness · Homosexuality · Interpretation (philosophy) · Portrait · Psychoanalysis · Soul · Theology · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Psychology · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
| Citations per year | 0.32 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1992 - 2016 (25) |
| Highly cited | No |