The Horse and Rider Figure in Chaucer's Works

Abstract

As can be seen from its role in mythology and in the nightmare, the horse has appealed to the imagination of all ages as a symbol of generative power, and, as such, it can be either a good or a bad principle. It is a god or handsome prince, promising fertility and pleasure; a terrifying demon or witch, taking the rider to death and hell. Not surprisingly, when it combines with the rider to be used as a figure analogically, it retains the attributes which stem hom images and sensations deeply rooted in the human psyche. But under the influence of the Christian Church the significance of the figure appears to harden: the horse is equated with the body or with Woman, the evil repository of sex; the rider is the soul or Man.

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