Whitney, Elspeth. “What’s Wrong with the Pardoner? Complexion Theory, the Phlegmatic Man, and Effeminacy.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 45, no. 4, Penn State University Press, 2011, pp. 357–89, https://doi.org/10.5325/chaucerrev.45.4.0357.
Elspeth Whitney argues that instead of modernizing the Pardoner’s character and sexuality, the readers should understand the Pardoner through the medieval humor/complexion theory, ascribing the Pardoner as a male phlegmatic based on the GP description of his complexion and his sloth-like inability to practice what he preaches (360). This theory explains the Pardoner’s effeminate characteristics in addition to the corruption of his body and soul. Whitney first establishes Chaucer’s direct use of the humors/complexion theory (ie. GP description of specific characters being “sanguine” and “choleric” [Whitney 364]) and implicit applications along with other contemporary practices in his tales (ie. astrology and alchemy) offer ways to “read” his characters; Chaucer’s audience would have had a general idea of applying physiognomy and complexion theory to their understandings of the characters and the tales. Then Whitney analyzes how the Pardoner fits the phlegmatic category through using a character that is more obviously set in the phlegmatic humor: the Cook. By understanding the obvious connections to the Cook, the subtle phlegmatic characteristics of the Pardoner become more glaring: for example, both are drunks whose professional and personal morals are attacked by the Host. Analyzing the Pardoner’s effeminate characteristics, Whitney explains how the connections between medical astrology, phlegmatic, and physiology create a duplicitous understanding of the Pardoner’s sexuality, a “gelding or a mare,” setting the tone of untrustworthiness towards his character (384-385). Whitney’s last argument explicates the connections between the phlegmatic and the sin of slothfulness in how they materialize in Pardoner’s actions or lack of. By offering an intersectional understanding of morality, gender, and physical health and being while complicating medieval understandings of what was understood as natural (ie. complexion theory) and atypical.
--Hannah Nagy
