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Summary and Analysis of The Franklin's Tale
Prologue to the Franklin's Tale: The Franklin praises the Squire for his eloquence, considering his youth. He tells the Squire that he has no peer among the company and that he wishes that his own son were as commendable as the Squire. The Host suggests that the Franklin tell the next tale. The Franklin begins by apologizing in advance for his rough speech and lack of education. The Franklin's Tale: The Franklin's Tale begins with the courtship of the Breton knight Arviragus and Dorigen, who come to be married happily. Their marriage is one of equality, in which neither of the two is master or servant. However, soon after they marry Arviragus is sent away to Britain to work for two years. Dorigen wept for his absence, despite the letters that he sent home to her. Her friends would often take her on walks where they would pass the cliffs overlooking the ocean and watch ships enter the port, hoping that one of them would bring home her husband. However, she was distressed by the rocks that were near the shore. She feared that whatever ship brought her husband home would crash on these rocks and sink. These friends would also have garden parties in which they would invite singers and squires to dance. One of these squires, Aurelius, had been in love with her ever since she arrived in Brittany. Eventually he declared his love for her. She agrees that she would be his lover if he would find a way to clear the rocks that endangered incoming ships. Aurelius lamented this condition, thinking that such a task would be impossible. His brother suggested that Aurelius meet a student of law at Orleans who was versed in the sciences of illusion. Aurelius made a journey to Orleans to meet this student; he found in the student's house the most fantastic luxuries. The student asked for one thousand pounds to remove all of the rocks from the shore off of Brittany. The student consulted his tables and contrived to make the rocks disappear for a week. When Dorigen learned of this, she was overcome with grief, realizing that she must forfeit either her body or her fair name. She thinks about the numerous instances in which a faithful wife or a maiden destroyed herself rather than submitting herself to another. She cites the maidens of Lacedaemon who chose to be slain rather than defiled, and Hasdrubal's wife, who committed suicide during the siege of Carthage, and Lucrece, who did the same when Tarquin took her by force. Arviragus returned home and Dorigen told him the truth of what had happened. He tells her that he will bear the shame of her actions, and that adhering to her promise is the most important thing. He therefore sends her to submit to Aurelius. When Aurelius learns how well Arviragus accepted his wife's promise, Aurelius decides to let Dorigen's promise go unfulfilled. He claims that a squire can be as honorable as a knight. Aurelius then went to pay the law student, even though his affair remained unconsummated. The law student forgave Aurelius' debt, proving himself honorable. The tale thus ends with this question: who was the most generous? Arviragus, Aurelius, or the student. AnalysisThe Franklin's Tale presents one of the few examples of a functional marital relationship. There is no overt strain in the marriage between Dorigen and Arviragus. The only difficulties that their marriage faces are external to the couple, and the problem that drives the plot of this story even derives from the overwhelming love and concern that Dorigen feels for her husband. The relative idealization of the marriage conforms to the sense of goodwill that the Franklin shows for each of his characters. Arviragus and Dorigen are both exemplary characters. Her greatest fault is a penchant for dramatics, as when she becomes incapacitated when Arviragus leaves, weeping and wailing over his absence. Arviragus is noble and generous, treating his wife with the respect of an equal. Even Aurelius is a benign presence. He is not a forceful intruder into the marriage; he is honest about his love for Dorigen, but does not pressure her, as other interlopers do during the course of the various Canterbury Tales. The main story of the Franklin's Tale is a common folktale often known as "The Damsel's Rash Promise." The tale traditionally tells of a wife who agrees to be unfaithful if the prospective suitor performs an impossible deed which, through some trickery, he does in fact perform. Chaucer makes a significant change to the standard structure of this tale: the promise that Dorigen makes to Aurelius is meant to ensure her husband's safety. She promises to harm her marriage by submitting to an affair if Aurelius helps keep her marriage safe. Dorigen's promise is therefore less flighty. It is rather a promise that Dorigen makes to sacrifice her honor in exchange for her husband's safety. That she never suspects that Aurelius would be able to actually rid the shore of these rocks becomes less significant in this case. The relative moral parity of each of the characters sets up the conclusion in which each acts according to his most noble intentions. Arviragus allows himself the humiliation of being cuckolded so that his wife may fulfill her promise. Aurelius forgives Dorigen's promise, allowing her to remain faithful to her husband. And the student absolves Aurelius of his debt for removing the rocks. This last noble act is the most surprising, for it breaks a simple contract that has no external moral implications. For each of the other noble acts, there is the sense that to behave otherwise would be immoral, yet the role of the student was a simple business transaction. There can be no definitive answer to the question that the conclusion of the story poses, yet a legitimate case can be made for each. The case for the law student was previously stated; a counter-argument to the claim that he was the most noble is that his sacrifice was purely monetary. He gave up nothing of substance when he absolved Aurelius of his debt, while Aurelius and Arviragus gave up something that legitimately mattered. One could argue that Arviragus behaved most nobly because he risked his reputation and gave up what was rightfully his, yet for Arviragus there may not have been another reasonable optionthe other solution that Dorigen considers is suicide. And Aurelius made what was perhaps the largest sacrifice, for he gave up what he desired most, yet what he gave up he had no legitimate right to have. A final option is that Dorigen was the one who behaved most nobly throughout the course of the story. She sacrificed her honor for the safety of her husband and was honest to both Aurelius and Arviragus. However, this does not consider the inherent foolishness of her initial promise and the fact that her behavior after Aurelius fulfilled this promise was highly constrained.
ClassicNote on The Canterbury Tales
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