| This study examines how the authority vested in proverbial discourse is exploited and undermined in medieval English literature. Proverbs and the consensus of traditional wisdom which they supposedly embody are easily appropriated for deceptive ends. In contexts of moral casuistry, political intrigue, and religious debate, the disjuncture between their ostensible universality and their tendentious use exposes their semantic instability, serving as a metaphor for other forms of faithlessness.;An introductory chapter surveys problems of definition and offers cross-cultural examples of the ambivalent medieval attitude toward proverbial authority, including biblical and Germanic precedent for its manipulation. Chapter 2 examines the proverb as a locus of conflict in Old English literature, demonstrating how authors repeatedly emphasize its malleable and potentially deceptive nature, suggesting that even the foolish and malevolent are capable of mimicking the tongue of the wise. Despite its ostensible function as an embodiment of consensus, the proverb remains a catalyst of conflict in Middle English literature. In the political machinations of Britons and Saxons in La3amon's Brut , detailed in Chapter 3, the proverb is repeatedly employed to sanction culturally-transgressive acts. Chapter 4 surveys the literary and cultural history of a misogynist proverb to engage the controversy over women's public religious authority in Piers Plowman. In Langland's work, Conscience asserts that "women cannot well keep counsel" to suggest that Christ first appeared to Mary Magdalene so that the news of his Resurrection would be spread more rapidly. Chapter 5 examines the public and private ethical dilemmas of Malory's Lancelot to reveal that the best of knights repeatedly takes refuge in proverbial discourse during moments of moral casuistry, persistently exploiting the community's wisdom as he pretends to be its protector, ultimately wrecking it all for a love out of measure.;These texts reflect the paradox of proverbial authority in the Middle Ages; it is by turns esteemed and questioned, validated and dismissed. Such a paradox undermines the scholarly assumption that medieval men and women uncritically respected this important form of auctoritas. Despite the veneration of proverbial authority in the Middle Ages, there was considerable room for dissent. |
