The Defence of Religious Orthodoxy in John Heywood's The Pardoner and the Frere

Author: Caputo, Nicoletta

Source: The Yearbook of English Studies, Volume 38, Numbers 1-2, 1 July 2008 , pp. 34-48(15)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

In The Pardoner and the Frere an attack on religious abuses is combined with a positive belief in the Church and a defence of the Catholic faith. Corrupt churchmen are satirized and the need for religious reform is stressed, an issue in which King Henry VIII is called upon for support in a way that, on closer examination, appears ambiguous and not without a hint of criticism. Thus the interlude is not only `an exercise in persuasion', but, in keeping with the dynamics of Tudor household drama, it is also `a vehicle for persuasion', and its various, subtle, persuasive strategies arise from the dramatist's desire to see the abuses in the ecclesiastical institution amended.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: University of Siena

Publication date: 2008-07-01

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A supplement to the Modern Language Review, this journal includes articles and reviews on the language and literature of the English-speaking world. Most of the volumes published so far are 'Special Numbers', collections of between fifteen and eighteen commissioned articles on particular topics, such as the impact of the French Revolution on English writers; literature in the modern media; and colonial and imperial themes in literature.