Another gay “sign” focuses on Sir Thopas’ surcoat being completely blank. This may symbolize the fact that his sexual orientation or gender are unclear due to the lack of markings. Poet Chaucer describes it as, “And over that his cote-armour / As whit as is a lilye flour” (866-867). Sir Thopas is not defining himself or associating himself with anyone or anything; he wears the blank coat of arms as a sign of independence and freedom from assuming a specific role. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and the members of interscripta’s state, “…armour as an armoire, a closed space, a closet…a constricting exterior to a lifelong struggle to reconcile the ‘new’ binarism inside / outside (or self / other)” (1). This supports the fact that the blank surcoat represents
