At a recent conference on medieval studies at Catholic University, a presenter addressed the relationships between daughters and fathers in
The Canterbury Tales; in treating the
Man of Law's Tale, she talked about the "dangerous space" that a daughter inhabits in transit from her father's house to her husband's house. Another paper at the conference, delivered by our own Usha Vishnuvajjala, addressed the life of Margery Kempe, who was able to construct a new identity-- outside of the one prescribed to her as a woman-- through religiosity. These two presentations together got me thinking about the way in which Custance is able to consolidate a self-determined identity as a "doghter of hooly chirche (675), a "doghter of [Christ's] chirche (567), only by inhabiting this watery middle space between daughter (of her earthly father) and wife. Even as a mother, Custance has the freedom to communicate or keep secret her paternally- or matrimonially-defined identity: "But what she was she wolde no man seye, / For foul ne fair, thogh that she sholde deye" (524-25).
I'm interested in the element of self-determination in the
Man of Law's Tale primarily because Custance-- "born to thraldom and penance" (286)-- actually seems like the least self-determining person ever, except for maybe Griselda. What do other people think? If Custance's religiosity can be seen as an expression of agency (even subversion?) in the social structure that assigns her roles based on her relationships with men-- how do we understand Alla's mother's religiously-motivated grab for power?
This amazing spam-fest is winding down.
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Here is a beautiful illustration of the "ship al steerelees"--
Constance by Albert Pinkham Ryder:
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