How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #7
O Donegild, I ne have noon Englissh digne
Unto thy malice and thy tirranye;
And therfore to the feend I thee resigne,
Lat hym enditen of thy traitorie!
Fy, mannysh, fy!—O nay, by God, I lye—
Fy, feendlych spirit! for I dar wel telle,
Thogh thou heere walke, thy spirit is in helle. (778-784)
This passage is a little ambiguous, but with his "Fy, mannysh, fy," the narrator may be implying that his initial instinct is to label Donegild, like the Sultaness, as unfeminine because of her aggressive behavior. Ultimately, of course, he rejects this label as too good for her because it implies that she is human, which is just too much of a compliment.
Quote #8
"So vertuous a lyvere in my lyf
Ne saugh I nevere as she, ne herde of mo
OF worldly wommen, mayde, ne of wyf;
I dar wel seyn, hir hadde levere a knyf
Thurghout hir brest, than ben a womman wikke,
There is no man koude brynge hir to that prikke." (1024-1029)
The Senator's sole support for Custance's virtuous living is that she would rather die than be wicked. The pun on "prikke," which here can mean either the injury of sin or the penis (oh, Chaucer, you sly dog) suggests that the main kind of vice the Senator has in mind is sexual. Custance, he is saying, would rather die than be raped, and this is the measure of a virtuous woman in his eyes.