Explores the representation of emotions as psychological concepts and cultural constructs in Geoffrey Chaucer's narrative poetry. McTaggart argues that Chaucer's main works including The Canterbury Tales are united thematically in their positive view of guilt and in their anxiety about the desire for sacrifice and vengeance that shame can provoke.

ANNE MCTAGGART is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

Shame and Guilt, Now and Then Shamed Guiltless in Chaucer's Pagan Antiquity Honor, Purity, and Sacrifice in the Knight's Tale and the Physician's Tale Structures of Reciprocity in Chaucerian Romance The Ills of Illocution: Shame, Guilt, and Confession in the Pardoner's Tale and the Parson's Tale Conclusion: Chaucer and Medieval Shame Culture