Реферат: Chaucer And The House Of Fame Essay

references, like Virgil, Ovid, Boccacio, Boethius and Dante are ‘auctors` who carry

great weight and authority, yet , as this is Geffrey’s dream he is able to manipulate the

events within The House of Fame. Thus Geffrey has the power of both the oral and

written ‘auctor`, he has heard the stories before, (in Ovid and Virgil) yet can ‘retell`

these events to the reader with perhaps even more ‘auctoritas’ as he can also state to

the reader that ‘I was there so I can tell you the truth`. However, Chaucer’s ‘auctoritas`

is diminished because even though he was an actual witness, it was still a dream, a

hazy and unpredictable area which can neither be totally rejected nor believed and

accepted. These implications show that Chaucer was perhaps rejecting the ‘auctoritas’

of these writers, revealing the possible discrepancies within any text, written or oral,

and how narrative events are able to change depending on the reliability of the ‘auctor`.

The mocking of Geffrey and his scholarly life and ambitions would also indicate

Chaucer’s dislike of the scholarly and academic world of the 14th century. Geffrey is

caricatured as a book-worm, unable to comprehend events outside the world of books.

The Eagle speaks to Geffrey of the futility and emptiness of a scholar ; “Thou goost

hom to thy hous anoon,/And, also domb as any stoon,/Thou sittest at another

book/Tyl fully daswed ys thy look;/And lyvest thus as an heremyte,/Although thyn

abstynence ys lyte.” (655-660) During the Eagle’s impressive monologue the

intelligent Geffrey can only answer in rather dull-witted monosyllables;

“Gladly”,”Noo? why?”, “Yis” and “Wel”. Geffrey is also portrayed as a rather weak

and stupid fellow, despite his scholarly habits. When one compares him to the classical

heroes of classical mythology, he realises that he is a mere mortal and afraid; ‘”Oh

God,” thoughte I, “that madest kynde,/Shal I noon other weyes dye?’. Unlike the

heroes of old, Geffrey is aware that he is no brave hero; “nether am Ennock, ne

Elye,/Ne Romulus, ne Ganymede.” (557-558) Despite these negative representations,

there still remains elements of respect and awe towards classical writings and the

strong belief entrusted in these works as contained in the line, “In certeyn, as the book

us tellis.” (426) The same respect is reflected in a speech made by the Eagle to

Geffrey; “Loo, this sentence ys knowen kouth/ Of every philosophres mouth,/ As

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