My last post was pretty long, but only because I had all those thoughts running through my head. I thought this time around I'd post a link to an article that I found very insightful regarding "The Man of Law's Tale." If your initial reaction was anything like mine, you may have found the story rather superficial and undeveloped for Chaucer. This article explains, though, that Chaucer is actually making use of a common form of literature and oral tradition available during Europe's medieval era. Michael R. Paull shows us the similarities to the legends of saints (esp. of female saints) that the tale bears. If any of you are thinking of writing about "The Man of Law's Tale," this might be a worthwhile read for you. I found that Paull's scholarship made the tale much more interesting.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25093157?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=man&searchText=of&searchText=law%27s&searchText=tale&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dman%2Bof%2Blaw%2527s%2Btale%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone&seq=6#references_tab_contents
Michael R. Paull
The Chaucer Review
Vol. 5, No. 3 (Winter, 1971), pp. 179-194
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