Chaucer's Poetic Alchemy by Sheila Fisher;

Author:Sheila Fisher;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)
Published: 1995-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

 63. Ibid., p. 326.

Abraham has noted that the structure of the pun on cosynage mirrors the structure of the tale. What is more, the mode of constructing a pun is also analogous to the mode of constructing the relationship between the monk and the merchant to which the pun on cosynage gives its name. The monk and the merchant begin their relationship as friends. On the monk’s initiative, however, the relationship is strengthened through their vows of cosynage.

And for as muchel as this goode man,

And eek this monk, of which that I bigan,

Were bothe two yborn in o village,

The monk hym claymeth as for cosynage;

And he agayn, he seith nat ones nay,

....

And ech of hem gan oother for t’assure

Of bretherhede, whil that hir lyf may dure.

(VII. 33-42)

As in the relationship contracted between the monk and the wife, this bond of cosynage is constructed from and through vows. It is defined by an act in which Don John “claymeth” the merchant as a cosyn. in other words, by an act in which the monk names the merchant cosyn. Through this act of naming, the monk creates a relationship that had not previously existed. He creates, as it were, an artificial or unconventional relationship by strengthening the tie between them from one of friendship to one whose name implies consanguinity.65If the monk and the merchant were actually cosyns, they would be related by blood, that is, there would be a natural relationship between them. As their relationship stands after this act of renaming, it is founded only upon the artifice of language. Their cosynage is a credit relationship that will repay its participants with the anticipated affection and loyalty only if there is the gold of good intention behind the name (since, in fact, there is not blood).

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