Aspects of Love in John Gower's Confessio Amantis Confessio Amantis Studies in Medieval History and Culture Series

Throughout the tales in the Confessio Amantis, John Gower proposes that reciprocal love is the remedy to what ails man and society. This book explores how Gower uses the aspects of love in the Confessio-the notions of kinde, or passionate love, and reason in the sphere of love; honeste love in the Marriage Tales of the Four Wives; passionate and excessive love in the Forsaken Women's tales; and Amans's lovesickness. In her thorough examination of Gower's work, Ellen S. Bakalian shows how Gower emphasizes and illustrates a belief that reason must rule man in all things, including his natural instincts to love.

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Chapter One: The Struggle between Nature and Reason in Gower's Confessio Amantis Tale of Albinus and Rosemund Tale of Pyramus and Thisbe Conclusion Chapter Two: Marriage and the Four Wives Tale of Penelope Tale of Alceone Tale of Alcestis Tale of Lucrece Conclusion Chapter Three: The Love Relationships of the Forsaken Women Tale of Deianira Tale of Medea Tale of Dido Tale of Phyllis Tale of Ariadne Conclusion Chapter Four: Lovesickness in the Confessio Amantis Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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