Cocco, Gabriele. “I Trowe He Were a Gelding or a Mare. A Veiled
Description of a Bent Pardoner.” Neophilologus, vol. 92, no. 2,
Springer Netherlands, 2007, pp. 359–66, doi:10.1007/s11061-007-9077-5.
The article by Gabriele Cocco examines the description of
the Pardoner in Geoffery Chaucer’s General Prologue. Specifically, it
looks at the line, “I trowe he were a gelding or a mare” (Chaucer 691). Cocco
spends some time giving background on other scholar’s theories that this line,
as well as other lines, prove the Pardoner is homosexual. However, his purpose
is to analyze a new perspective of where the idea of homosexuality could have
come from. Cocco’s belief is that Chaucer was pulling information from Norse
Mythology, specifically the character of Loki to influence his description of
the Pardoner. He states the connections between the two characters, saying that
they each can change sex and are evil in the intent of their actions (Cocco
363). To prove that Chaucer would have known about Loki, he points out the
influence of Scandinavia on the language of Middle English by saying, “Language
does not mean just grammar and syntax; it also means culture, folklore, style
and sensibility” (Cocco 365). Cocco brings up specific stories of Loki but
recognizes that Chaucer could have pulling information from other Loki tales as
well.
-Kathryn Anderson Albright
