Preceptive portraiture: Chaucerian and Spenserian effictio

Preceptive portraiture: Chaucerian and Spenserian effictio

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bice, Deborah Marie
Language:English
Published: Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK 1994
Subjects:
Preceptive portraiture
Chaucerian
Spenserian
effictio
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1057949572
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-case10579495722021-08-03T05:31:04Z Preceptive portraiture: Chaucerian and Spenserian effictio Bice, Deborah Marie Preceptive portraiture Chaucerian Spenserian effictio The art of describing the feminine ideal can be traced to Maximian's portrait of Helen of Troy in the sixth century. He used the now familiar head to toe catalogue with the language of colour significations: white, red, black, and gold, or, the focus of this study, the effictio. "Ideal woman" had blond hair, black eyebrows, white skin, and red cheeks and lips. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Matthew of Vendome (who crafts two additional portraits of Helen of Troy) and Geoffroi of Vinsauf amplify this baseline formula, elaborate immensely, and thereby provide instructional rhetorical directives for describing "the feminine ideal," again in a descending catalogue, again with designated colour significations. Moreover, Geoffroi of Vinsauf incorporates within the physical profile the moral profile, and the effictio as a physiognomic rhetorical representation, is firmly rooted as a functional rather than ornamental device. For fourteen hundred years, many writers, but specifically the Gawain poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Edmund Spenser imitate the baseline concept of this tradition or provide inventive modifications thereof. In this study, I will distinguish the effictio from the notatio and descriptio, figures also cited in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, in order to clear the confusion among these terms, and, to a ppreciate the unique force and function of this convention. The effictio as separate unit is indeed a window to the soul; yet, evaluating the trope contextually will reinforce how it is a window to the subject's actions and motivations as well. I will explore the more traditional examples of the effictio in early medieval love lyrics, the portrait of the Green Knight in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer's Emelye in The Knight's Tale, and Spenser's Belphoebe in the Faerie Queene. More important, I will explore significant modifications of the effictio in Chaucer's portraits of Chauntecleer in the Nun's Priest's Tale, Alysoun of Bath, and Absolon and Alisoun in The Miller's Tale, and in Spenser's portrait of Rosalind in Shephearde's Calendar. 1994 English text Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1057949572 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1057949572 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Preceptive portraiture
Chaucerian
Spenserian
effictio
spellingShingle Preceptive portraiture
Chaucerian
Spenserian
effictio
Bice, Deborah Marie
Preceptive portraiture: Chaucerian and Spenserian effictio
author Bice, Deborah Marie
author_facet Bice, Deborah Marie
author_sort Bice, Deborah Marie
title Preceptive portraiture: Chaucerian and Spenserian effictio
title_short Preceptive portraiture: Chaucerian and Spenserian effictio
title_full Preceptive portraiture: Chaucerian and Spenserian effictio
title_fullStr Preceptive portraiture: Chaucerian and Spenserian effictio
title_full_unstemmed Preceptive portraiture: Chaucerian and Spenserian effictio
title_sort preceptive portraiture: chaucerian and spenserian effictio
publisher Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK
publishDate 1994
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1057949572
work_keys_str_mv AT bicedeborahmarie preceptiveportraiturechaucerianandspenserianeffictio
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