Megan Palmer Browne

Abstract for In hir Corages, ed. Carolynn Van Dyke

January 2011

Title: Chaucer’s Chauntecleer: Speech “Fair” and “Foul”

This essay examines the ways in which Chaucer’s Chauntecleer perceives himself as being “like” a man intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually—without ever losing his robust embodiment as a rooster. Though the reader is frequently reminded of Chauntecleer’s rooster-like qualities and habits, the character is also consistently likened to a human man: in his own speech, in the speech of other animals, and even in the words of the “Tale’s” narrator. By close-reading specific terms in the tale, especially “man” and “soule,” I show how the boundary between man and bird is problematized. I argue that the function of this boundary-blurring is to invite imaginative compassion from the “Tale’s” readers. Such imaginative compassion is related to medieval movements contemporary with the “Tale,” especially affective spirituality.

Further, the process of imaginative compassion is interestingly relevant to recent scientific and philosophical work on better negotiating our complex relations with animals. The work of Irene Pepperberg, Thomas Nagel, Daniel Dennett, and Jacques Derrida is particularly germane, because these thinkers take varying positions on the issue of animal subjectivity—especially on the question of whether, and how, it is appropriate to imagine such subjectivity.

My essay thus moves from a close-reading of Chaucer’s poem to a discussion of imaginative compassion. It surveys the work of recent theorists, and closes with a discussion of how Chaucer’s much-beloved rooster still speaks eloquently in favor of allowing ourselves to imagine what animal subjectivity might be like.