The centrality of Medea in Gower’s ‘Tale of Jason and Medea’

Abstract

Showcasing some examples of Gower’s artistic use of form to serve content, this article argues that the formalistic structure of ‘The Tale of Jason and Medea’ is a rhetorical means deployed by the poet to manage his narrative content and highlight its center. The article introduces Medea as the center of the tale under discussion providing a textual reading of the formalistic structure of the lines that are said by or about Medea. Acknowledging the tale’s iambic tetrameter structure and its role in orchestrating the narrative, the article explains how Medea’s narrative centrality gets defined syllabically and accentually. The article concludes that the formalistic structure of ‘The Tale of Jason and Medea’ is not a poetic decoration or part of traditional poetic templates used by Gower unconsciously, but a rhetorical device deployed by the poet to manage the focus of the narrative.

Keywords

• Confessio Amantis; english literature; middle english poetry; narrative; poetics.