The other in chaucer and at ground zero

Abstract EN

This paper tries to prove that Chaucer's ungenerous stance toward the Other in his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, has been by and large overlooked by the Western critical establishment and that any notice of the existence of the Other is taken to associate open-mindedness to Chaucer and to allege his tolerance for the other value-systems.

By examining Chaucer's treatment of Jews, Muslims, and Pagans in the Tales, it is posited that Chaucer not only demonizes the Other but also privileges Christian ethos and that his alleged tolerance is a result of palliative interpretations of his work.

In fact, any sympathy on his part for the Other occurs only if the Other shows a clear or implicit partiality to Christian outlook.

As such Chaucer, in addition to being the first great poet, is also the first to use poetic powers to promote political Christianity at the expense of other value systems.]