All this Melibee Talk

Even though it is dull as all hell, the Tale of the Melibee is definitely one of the more intriguing tales we've read so far. So many questions arise when trying to analyze the piece. Why is the Chaucer character telling this tale? Is it a parody or commentary of sorts? What's with all the dialogue? We've pondered all of this and have come up with several possibilities as to Chaucer's motivations.

As for me, I'm in agreence with Michael Foster. "I would like to suggest that Melibee itself casts doubt on such a binary opposition because it disregards a schism between oral and literate communication, and it embodies the spirit of publicly performed and interpreted literature; in my view, the style of the Melibee combines with its content—the debate on revenge versus forgiveness—to invite a communal response" (411).

In his article, Foster discusses the value of the shared-experience amongst medieval readers and how a tale filled with so much moral discourse and discussion would inevitably lead to numerous debates between said medieval readers.

So maybe, Chaucer was just giving the people of his time a thick tale to chew on...

Foster, Micahel. "Echoes of Communal Response in the Tale of Melibee." The Chaucer Review 42.4 (2008): 409-430. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/chaucer_review/v042/42.4.foster.html.