The Squire’s personality is reflected in this rambling tale because he has travelled to the Far East, where the tale takes place, and is a devoted follower of courtly love. Like his father the Knight, he packs his tale with description and detail of wonderful occult events from Eastern folk tales, with a smattering of Arthurian legend.
^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: THE FRANKLIN’S TALE
The Franklin compliments the Squire’s qualities and wishes his son were more like him. His tale, though, won’t be as colorful or as well-spoken as the Squire’s, since he is a plain speaker.
He tells of the faithful Dorigen who is grief-stricken when her husband, Arveragus, goes away to battle. While he’s gone, she paces the rockstrewn Brittany cliffs. She doesn’t know that Aurelius, a squire living nearby, is madly in love with her, which he finally tells her. She rejects him, but he’s so upset that she kiddingly says she’ll love him when he makes all the rocks on the coast disappear. Knowing that’s impossible, Aurelius falls ill from unrequited love and stays in bed for two years, while Arveragus returns to his happy wife. But Aurelius’ brother, worried, knows a magician to whom Aurelius promises 1000 pounds if he can make the rocks disappear. The magician creates the illusion that they’re gone, and Dorigen is horrified when she learns she must keep her promise. She tells her husband what has happened. Faithful to his knightly sense of honor, Arveragus insists she keep her promise. But when Dorigen sadly goes to Aurelius, he is so impressed with Arveragus’ nobility that he sends her home. Meanwhile, Aurelius can’t afford to pay the rest of the money he owes the magician. The magician, in turn, is moved by the story and tells Aurelius to forget the money. The Franklin ends by asking, Which of these is the most noble gentleman?
The tale is rich in symbols and wordplay. Dorigen’s marriage is based on “trouthe” (truth, loyalty), the first virtue of the Knight whom Chaucer idealizes in the Prologue. Marriage here is a sensible middle ground between the Wife of Bath’s idea of domination and the Clerk’s notion of total submission. The loosely-adapted breton lai (Brittany tale) is based on Boccaccio and brings up questions of promises and inner nobility.
^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: THE PHYSICIAN’S TALE
Virginius, a rich, noble knight, has a beautiful daughter, Virginia, whom Nature has blessed with a nearly perfect body. She is the picture of virtue (the Physician here inserts a lecture about bringing up children). An evil judge, Appius, sees Virginia and wants to have her, but knows he must resort to underhandedness to get her. He gets a local scoundrel, Claudius, to say in court that Virginia was actually his servant girl whom Virginius had stolen from his house years before. Before Virginius can protest, Appius announces he will take Virginia as a ward of the court. Rather than submit, Virginius tells his daughter she must die, which she accepts. When Virginius brings his daughter’s head to Appius, the judge orders that he be hanged. But a crowd, furious at the judge’s treachery, throws him into jail where he hangs himself. Claudius’ life is spared only because Virginius pleads for him; instead, he’s exiled.
The tale, about “the wages of sin,” comes from Livy, the Roman historian. But Chaucer gets it through the French Romance of the Rose, which he translated. The tale is somewhat appropriate to the Physician, who spends a great deal of time describing the way Nature has created Virginia’s perfect anatomy, perhaps out of professional interest. (The passage takes the form of a classical statement by the Goddess Nature, who helps God in creation.)
^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: THE SHIPMAN’S TALE
A rich merchant with a beautiful wife loves entertaining guests, one of whom is a young monk who grew up in the same village as the merchant. During a visit, the monk comes across the wife in the garden while the husband is in the countinghouse. Swearing him to secrecy, the wife tells how miserable she is, lacking the things women want in their husbands (health, wisdom, riches, generosity, affection, and sex). She then asks the monk to lend her 100 francs that she can’t get from her stingy husband. He agrees on the condition that she promise to sleep with him while the husband’s away. Before the merchant leaves, the monk asks for a 100-franc loan, which the merchant gladly gives. The monk passes the money to the wife, who goes to bed with him. Later, the merchant visits the monk, who says he’s repaid the money to the wife. Returning home, the merchant scolds the wife for not telling him about the returned loan; the wife replies she didn’t know it was a loan and spent the money on clothes. The merchant decides he has no choice but to forgive the wife.
The tale, a fabliau like the Miller’s and Reeve’s tales, may have originally been intended for a female pilgrim. There’s certainly a connection between the wife’s words on husbands and the Wife of Bath’s question about what women want. But the crass language and heavy dose of sexual punning fits the character of the shady Shipman; so does the assumption that it’s okay for the monk to violate his vow of celibacy and take advantage of the merchant’s friendship.
^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: THE PRIORESS’ TALE
The Prioress opens with a hymn to the Virgin Mary, praising her virtues, to introduce a tale in which Mary plays a part.
The tale takes place in a large city with a Jewish quarter. A little boy who loves the Virgin Mary has to walk through the Jewish ghetto to school, where he learns to sing Alma redemptoris, a Latin hymn praising Mary. The Jews conspire to have him killed, and his body, with throat cut, is found in an outhouse the next day by his frantic mother. A miracle occurs: the boy, slit throat and all, starts to sing the hymn he’s memorized. When questioned by the abbot, the dead boy says the Virgin Mary put a grain on his tongue, and he won’t die until it is removed. The abbot takes it off and the child gives up the ghost. The Jews are dragged by horses, then killed. The Prioress ends with a reference to St. Hugh of Lincoln, allegedly murdered by Jews a century earlier.
It’s argued that the Prioress’ gentle description in the Prologue is sarcastic in light of this anti-Semitic tale; others say Chaucer is merely repeating an attitude toward Jews that was common in the medieval Church. Perhaps he intends irony in the fact that the Prioress laments over the boy and not the Jews, and that her violent tale is written in the form of a popular pious story praising the Virgin Mary (appropriate for a nun like the Prioress, who sees herself, like many nuns, under Mary’s protection).
^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: TALE OF SIR TOPAS
The Host asks Chaucer, the narrator, for a tale, describing him in the process as chubby, short (like an elf) and always looking down. (We don’t know if this is how Chaucer really looked!) Chaucer promises the only tale he says he knows in rhyme.
Sir Topas is a good-looking knight, talented, whom ladies sigh for (but he stays chaste). One night he dreams of an elf queen and vows to ride to the ends of the earth to find her. He meets a giant whom he promises to fight the next day…. Here the tale is interrupted by the Host, who can’t stand these horrible rhymes any more. So instead, Chaucer offers a “little” story in prose, which threatens to be as boring as Sir Topas!
The irony is that Chaucer would assign himself such a weak tale, filled with “knight-meets-fair-maiden” cliches that were old even then. It’s written in a popular, bouncy rhythm, but even those of us unfamiliar with the style can see the tale is a spoof on romances. Even the stock description of Sir Topas (topaz symbolized chastity, by the way) is a joke.
^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: THE TALE OF MELIBEUS
Chaucer wades through a sermon about whether it’s better to avenge violence with more violence, or agree to peaceful settlement. The argument is between Sir Melibeus (pro-violence) and his wife Dame Prudence (anti-violence) who are deciding what action to take against three thieves who brutally wound their daughter. Peaceful methods prevail, but the “tale” is more moralistic wrangling than plot.
The tale is translated almost word for word from a French tale that in turn comes from Latin. The point is the philosophical arguments, not the narrative, so it’s generally regarded as a clunker. This is ironic, because it is Chaucer who tells it.
^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: THE MONK’S TALE
After receiving some grief from the Host about his probable “hunting” of women (see Prologue), the Monk agrees to tell a tale–but it’s not lively, as the Host hoped.
The Monk details the tragedies of sixteen famous men and one woman, their lives and downfalls: seven connected with the Old Testament (Lucifer, Adam, Samson, Nebuchadnezzar, Balthasar, Holofernes, Antiochus); five from the classics (Hercules, Nero, Julius Caesar, Alexander, Croesus); and five from history (Queen Zenobia, Kings Peter of Spain and of Cyrus, Bernardo of Lombardy, Ugolino of Pisa). He says he has one hundred tragedies to relate, but the Knight interrupts him.