Chaucer overtly feminizes him by primarily identifying his hair and complexion in describing his look: “Crul was his heer, and as the gold it shoon/ … / His rode was reed, his eyen greye as a goos” (3314, 3317). Unlike the ideal masculine character, these attributes provide no physical strength through which he can impose God’s will. Moreover, while, as the parish clerk, Absolon is an agent of the Church, his description does not point towards spiritual concerns. Calling him a “mery child” (3325), Chaucer tells the reader of Absolon’s ability to –“trippe and daunce/…and pleyen songes on a small rubible” (3328-3331). Whereas his job requires him to act on behalf of God, any innate ability to do so is not referred to, and the talent he does have only enables him to indulge in courtly
Chaucer overtly feminizes him by primarily identifying his hair and complexion in describing his look: “Crul was his heer, and as the gold it shoon/ … / His rode was reed, his eyen greye as a goos” (3314, 3317). Unlike the ideal masculine character, these attributes provide no physical strength through which he can impose God’s will. Moreover, while, as the parish clerk, Absolon is an agent of the Church, his description does not point towards spiritual concerns. Calling him a “mery child” (3325), Chaucer tells the reader of Absolon’s ability to –“trippe and daunce/…and pleyen songes on a small rubible” (3328-3331). Whereas his job requires him to act on behalf of God, any innate ability to do so is not referred to, and the talent he does have only enables him to indulge in courtly