The medieval animal world was vast and included mythical creatures as well as birds, reptiles and other beasts. This dissertation confines itself mainly to mammals. It explores the numerous references to them in Chaucer's works and finds these to be consonant with his general treatment of the brute creation for literary purposes. By Chaucer's day, the traditional attitude towards animals was well defined. The fables, the Bible, hermeneutical writings, natural histories, encyclopedias and art all stressed the apparently human characteristics of animals and rarely demonstrated scientific interest in the assessment of them. In an age when the visible world existed to instruct "man in spiritual matters, the characteristics were stereotyped and used merely to throw light on human or divine nature. Chaucer, whether he draws from popular lore, expository writings or animal stories, whether he is translating or using knowledge seemingly derived from observation, appears to think primarily of the conventional ideas associated with animals and to find animals interesting mainly because they can illustrate humanity. Many of his analogies are meaningful solely because of the conventional attributes of animals which are either stated or implied. In his most successful figures he is able to make folklore, symbolism and realistic detail combine to vivify the complexities of human character and action. Despite the assumptions of a number of critics that Chaucer shows a personal liking for animals, the evidence examined reveals that his references, at best conventionally colorless, are generally depreciatory and that animals frequently serve to illustrate distasteful aspects of humanity. He selects pejorative proverbial expressions and reinforces them with equally unfavorable observations of his own. In the case of the mammals considered in detail in this dissertation, the hare, the dog, the horse, the wolf, the sheep and the lamb, only the lamb receives an unequivocally favorable presentation and this presentation is necessitated by traditional Christian symbolism. To some extent Chaucer1s attitude may be regarded as stemming from Boethius who regarded animals as exemplifying the baser passions of Man. But an analysis of the nature of Chaucer's references, both figurative and non-figurative, indicates that an additional reason must be found to account for what often appears to be a compulsive selection of unpleasant images. It is suggested that Chaucer's recoil is the result of an inner tension. He tries to repress the attraction which he feels for the uninhibited vitality of the animal world because he knows that, according to the teachings of his Church, the uncontrolled expression of the natural passions is to be condemned, and that the animal serves as a warning, illustrating what Man becomes when, to his eternal damnation, he permits the body to triumph over the soul. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Fra Angelico's fresco cycle of the lives and martyrdoms of SS. Stephen and Lawrence in the Chapel of Nicholas V (1447-49) communicate in a style which seems to be rhetorical in the sense that they employ numerous strategies which appear to aim at persuading viewers of the truth of the ideological notions the frescoes convey. This fact encourages one to consider the specific pressures which the context of the frescoes' production may have exerted. Commissioned by a pope who had the training of a professional humanist - and who, as a humanist, had interest in the efficacy of rhetoric - these frescoes convey their messages with a persuasive pictorial 'eloquence1 which, in some respects, corresponds to or plays off on humanist definitions of eloquence. The following study attempts to explain what messages these frescoes were meant to communicate, and how their manner of communication is rhetorical. The rhetorical style becomes a method of conveying old ideas in new ways, and may have made the messages more resonant in the context in which they were meant to function. A paucity of primary documentation on the frescoes makes this type of evaluation difficult. Problems in identifying the frescoes' intended audience and working on the troublesome ground between the rhetorical nature of written and pictorial texts also complicates this' investigation. Nevertheless, by considering the problems and aims of Nicholas Vs pontificate, and by closely examining the subject matter, organization, and expression of the frescoes, some indication as to their probable function may be gained. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

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Abstract (1 leaf) and Summary contents guide (18 loose leaves) in pocket of v. 1 / Bibliography: v. 1, leaves 261-277 / 3 v. : music ; 31 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, 1984

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