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This notion that the wager in the CT is somehow a form of gambling strikes me as nonsensical. It is a competition of skill, independent of chance. If your students wish to look for parallels, Elza, they should look at other forms of competition, such as tourneys, moots, academic disputations. -- Ray Lurie Renaissance Studies Program Yale University 136 Edwards Street New Haven, CT 06511 Quoting "Barbara D. Palmer" <[log in to unmask]>: > Definition of GamblingOne dimension of the sin of gambling is the > part which falls under the general moral rubric of usury--i.e., > making a financial profit on or taking financial advantage of someone > else's misfortune. Clearly there are other dimensions to gambling to > which others can speak--fate, luck, hazarding, dicing, swearing (some > of the latter three connected iconographically to the > Crucifixion)--but for your students' questions about The Canterbury > Tales' "wager," Chaucer seems clearly to draw a line between the > friendly non-fiscal wager of tales' competition and shared dinner of > fellowship as reward and the "wages of sin," dicing, hazarding, > swearing, and so forth, which are condemned in several characters and > their tales' content. Interesting question. I'll be glad to hear > others' thoughts. > Barbara > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Tiner, Elza > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 8:49 PM > Subject: Definition of Gambling > > > Colleagues on the REED Listserve: > > Where would I find a good definition of forms of gambling in the > fourteenth century? My students have raised a question about the > Canterbury Tales, that is, the storytelling competition, in which the > pilgrims are competing for a prize, resulting in all the others > having to pay for the winner's meal at the Tabard, as a form of > gambling. While the storytelling competition is a game, would it > have been considered a form of gambling? > > When I looked up gamble in the OED, I did not see a form of this > word from the 14th century, though game, its possible predecessor, > goes back that far. In notes to the Pardoner's Tale, where gambling > is mentioned, Larry Benson describes the game of hazard, with dice, > as a game of chance (909). However, is a storytelling competition > also a game of chance--does such a connection turn up in any REED > accounts? > > Many thanks for your thoughts on this matter. > > Elza C. Tiner > Professor of English > School of Humanities and Social Sciences >