The Chaucer Review: An Indexed Bibliography (Vols. 1-30)Return
to the Subject List Benson, C. David. "Their Telling Difference:
Chaucer the Pilgrim and His Two Contrasting Tales." 18 (1983):
61-76. Chaucer does not give enough information about the
pilgrim identified with himself in the Canterbury Tales for
critics to claim that the pilgrim is a well-developed character.
The tales this pilgrim tells, however, present a dramatic
contrast between clever and poor art. The Tale of Sir Thopas is
not satiric, but a highly imaginative, carefree tale of nothing.
The Tale of Melibee is the stylistic opposite of Thopas. Melibee
is highly moral and has little imaginative content either in
words or ideas. Chaucer does not merely contrast good with bad
art, but different ways to use language. Thus Thopas and Melibee
work best when read as a unit. Burrow, John. "'Worly under wede'
in Sir Thopas." 3 (1969): 170-73. The rare form "worly" for
"worthily" in Group VII, line 917 is a more accurate
transcription of the word Chauc