Possibility Of Transcending: A Study On Chaucer As An Intellectual

The study of the intellectual was a heated academic area in the last century. Its focus was mainly laid on the intellectual's relation to the power, implicating that the intellectual was a special group courageous to say no to the authority. Therefore, to associate Chaucer, a medieval court poet, with "intellectual," a relatively recent notion, seems to be a forced or far-fetched attempt. The association could be the victim of anachronism. However, to previlege being a social critic the only common feature shared by the intellectuals is after all modern-prejudiced. "Intellectual," as a notion, basically has other senses than this particular implication. The dissertation intends, from the perspective of the notion of "intellectual," its general sense and its modern sense, to revisit Chaucer the man and his works. It attempts to explore the interactiveness between his writing practice and his social engagement.Studies on Chaucer's intellectuality have been touched upon briefly. But no systematic discussion regarding Chaucer as an intellectual in both general and modern sense exists till now. Medievalists agree on Chaucer's intelligence in his social life and literary world, but they fail to see and argue plainly and systematically the interaction in between from this particular perspective. Even on Chaucer's role as a social commentator, there exist more disagreements than agreements due to the peculiar evasiveness in Chaucer's writing. Perceived by some though, no one has made detailed analysis on his ambiguous and evasive style by taking into serious account Chaucer's social position in his time. Nor has comparative study been made on the relationship between Chaucer and the traditional Chinese intellectual Shi. Their shared wisdom in living, writing and pursuing of spiritual freedom when they were bodily confined by the social circumstances has not yet exposed. Therefore, the dissertation attempts to study Chaucer's characteristics as an intellectual by examining the social roles he played as a medieval court poet, revealing his wisdom in both his worldly life and his literary career. In this way, the dissertation hopes to paint a full portrayal of Chaucer as an intellectual, elaborating the interrelationship between his writing and his living, his text and his context.After a retrospective study on the concept of "intellectual," and a review of those scholars who have touched on this issue, the introductory part primarily argues for the plausibility and significance of a systematic study on Chaucer as an intellectual. The definitions and classifications of the concept help to illuminate the bi-foci of the notion: one indicating the personal wisdom of the intellectual, the other concerning the intellectual's social function, a more contested point in modern intellectual study. Then I examine in sequence Chaucer's intelligence and his social function as a court poet, and introduce the three key aspects of the present study on him as an intellectual: his role of a social commentator, of an enlightener, and his wisdom exhibited in both his private writing and his public world.From both a historical and a modern view, Chapter One explores the social roles traditional intellectuals in the court played as prince-pleasers and/or counselors, and the modern intellectuals' function as social critics. It elaborates the complex relationship of the roles Chaucer played as a court poet and a civil servant: his dilemma of pleasing the royal and aristocratic, or providing counseling advice and making criticism. Through a detailed analysis on the Melibee s Tale in the Canterbury Tales, especially its relationship with the genre of "Mirror for Prince," the chapter argues the interrelationship between Chaucer's literary choices and his social roles. Adopting the genre of "Mirror of Prince" for the Melibee's Tale, Chaucer not only inherited the literary tradition but also achieved his social criticism strategically. The choice of subject, genre, and style may all have social reason and significance. It is argued thus the inheritance of literary tradition is not the only factor that influences Chaucer's writing. Literary choices are determined by the interaction between literary tradition and the social roles of the writer.The second chapter continues studying the relationship between Chaucer's work and his social roles under the frame of the interaction between literary texts and their social context. Based on a general survey of the medieval social structure, this chapter starts with a discussion about Chaucer's position in and on the society. Agreeing with Barr on that writings are socioliterary practice, I explore Chaucer's attitude toward the 1381 rebels by comparing Chaucer's treatment of the event in the Nun's Priest's Tale with other contemporary writers' and chroniclers' description of it. The third and fourth sections of this chapter focus on Chaucer's depictions of women and clerics respectively. Sampling on Criseyde, "the false woman" in Troilus and Criseyde, and the Wife of Bath in the Canterbury Tales, the round and also most contested women characters in Chaucer, the third section argues for Chaucer's denial of making any simple moral judgment. The fourth focuses on Chaucer's attitude towards the clerics. Offering literary portraits of contemporary clerics, Chaucer betrayed his dissatisfaction with the corruptions of some of the clerics, though still calmly, without radical criticism upon them. Chaucer's concern with the social events, the fate of women, and the problems of the clerics exhibits his role of an intellectual as a social commentator.Chapter Three elaborates Chaucer's enlightening role as an intellectual. Clearing up the mystery of "authority" in medieval time, the focus is laid on Chaucer's negotiating with the authority (ies), which is manifested in both his literary creation and his reflection on male superiority. This chapter exposes Chaucer's ingenuity in taking advantages of the authorities ~ the sources taken as canon, and his parodoxical relationship with them, in the sense that he established his own authority in literature by exploiting the authorities. In terms of gender authority, the tension between male and female in Chaucer's work is expanded to a conflict between the authority embodied in men and the experience embodied in women. Being a constant issue in Chaucer's work, the opposition between authority and experience is manifestive in the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale. It is argued that Chaucer's Wife of Bath mirrors Chaucer the poet himself: both apply the authorities against the authority.Chapter Four returns to the discussion of Chaucer's personal wisdom. Nevertheless, the apparent shift of focus doesn't deny the interactive relationship between Chaucer's personal attributes and his public position. It is argued that Chaucer's artistic devices or textual strategies are not a pure matter of literary art, but a way of fulfiling his role of a social commentator. Compared with Shi, the traditional Chinese intellectuals, Chaucer's wisdom in both his private writing and his public life is manifested. Both Chaucer and Shi shared the same wisdom, knowing how to survive in an age of turmoil without giving up their spiritual pursuit.On the base of a close reading of Chaucer's works, and with the reference to Chaucer critical heritage and the related documents concerning the history and the culture of his time, the dissertation tries to read the interaction between Chaucer's text and the historical, social and cultural context of his time. Thanks to its double threads: the general sense and the modern sense, the notion of "intellectual" lends itself to an advantageous perspective of doing so. It allows a new angle to see the interaction between Chaucer's literary works and his social roles. Chaucer's intellectuality can be perceived, not only in his knowledge and intelligence, but also, more importantly, in his ambivalent and dual roles of both a counselor and a critic, in the skeptical challenge and enlightening effects in his poetry, and in his wisdom exhibited in both his literary and social life. The attempt to examine Chaucer's poems both on their literary attributes and their social and cultural context is both textually and contextually meaningful. The interactiveness between the text and the context helps us see the social and cultural significance of Chaucer's textual strategies, furthering a better understanding of the excellence of the writing itself, and also Chaucer's importance and influence as an intellectual upon the society and the culture.