Prudence and the Power of Persuasion--Language and Maistrie in the Tale of Melibee

Abstract

In this paper I shall study Chaucer's Tale of Melibee from the point of view of the power of persuasion within the framework of historical pragmatics. As in several of the Canterbury Tales, one of the central themes in the Tale of Melibee is the issue of maistrie, 1 that is, the struggle for power between the husband and the wife. This struggle is constantly manifested in the dialogue, and my aim is to analyze the dialogue by using tools provided by historical pragmatics in order to determine who wields power in the marriage and when, and to specify what kinds of linguistic strategies are used by each spouse to gain, maintain, or surrender control over the other.

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