Fortune Personified and the Fall (and Rise) of Women in Chaucer's Monk's Tale and the Autobiographical Writings of Christine de Pizan Fortune Personified and the Fall (and Rise) of Women in Chaucer's Monk's Tale and the Autobiographical Writings of Christine de Pizan

by Fisher, Leona C

This thesis will posit that a query of the medieval trope, Fortune, can be read as a query into femininity. Fortune is depicted with many quintessentially medieval feminine traits, and women in texts that discuss Fortune often have Fortune’s traits.

While texts that link Fortune and femininity usually do so to censure women, some writers turned the trope to their advantage for just the opposite purpose. Both Chaucer in the “Monk’s Tale” and Christine de Pizan personify Fortune to subtly point out the flaws in antifeminist medieval view of women. This thesis explores the ways in which these writers cleverly took advantage of genre and characterization to use Fortune to defend women and womanhood.