SUMMERS, KAREN CRADY, Ph.D. Reading Incest - The University ...

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of a king and the function of law and justice, which can occur only when the king has
mastered self-governance.
In Confessio Amantis, Gower employs the incest theme to demonstrate that
division is the source of mankind’s earthly woes, and this division stems from lack or
proper love on the part of king and man. The problem of division begins in the individual
with his turning away from reason, the paramount characteristic that elevates man from
beast and brings him closer to the divine. Individuals who have lost their reason thus
have no moral mirror by which to see themselves and the effects, usually detrimental, of
their actions. As “senne of his condicioun / Is moder of divisioun” (Pr. 1029-1030) 18 , the
framing device of the seven deadly sins provides a multitude of exempla through which
Genius might instruct Amans. Of the eight books in Confessio Amantis, five contain
incest tales.
Genius diligently directs Amans to examine his behavior so that he can gain
mastery over his “self,” and the kingdom within, and the royal readers of Confessio
Amantis are advised of the horrors that await them and their nation if they do not practice
similar restraint. Tales of incest abound in Confessio Amantis; they are made by Genius
to demonstrate that division, in all its many permutations, is the cause of sin, of poor
governance, of civil war, and of man’s estrangement from God. A wise king will
18 Gower brings forth this theme from his Mirour de l’homme. Sin is described here too as the cause of all
evils, and participates in an incestuous relationship with her father, Satan. Sin then gives birth to their
child, Death. See Yeager, R.F., “John Gower’s French” in Echard, Sian, A Companion to Gower, 137-151.
Milton later configures Sin’s geneaology in similar fashion in Book 2 of “Paradise Lost.”