|
Summary and Analysis of The Physician's Tale
Fragment VI The Physician's Tale: As Titus Livius tells us, there was once a knight called Virginius who had many friends, much wealth, and a loving wife and daughter. The daughter possessed a beauty so great that even Pygmalion could not create her equal. She was also humble in speech and avoided events in which her virtue could be compromised. There was a judge, Appius who governed the town who saw the knight's daughter, and lusted after her. He believed that he could take the daughter by force. He plotted against the daughter with a churl named Claudius. In Appius' court Claudius accuses Virginius of stealing his servant (the daughter), and Appius immediately decides that Virginius must hand over his daughter to Claudius. Virginius tells his daughter, Virginia, that she must now suffer one of two pains, shame or death. Virginius would rather have her dead, however. He chopped off her head and brought it to Appius, who immediately sentenced Virginius to death. However, when the people realized what had happened, they themselves took Appius off to jail, where he committed suicide. Claudius was to be hanged, but Virginius intervened and spared his life. He was merely banished. The moral of this story: forsake your sin ere you will forsake. AnalysisThe Physician's Tale is not among the most notable of the Canterbury Tales, significant primarily for the way in which it continues to develop themes more fully realized in other tales. The tale centers around the noble suffering of Virginia, who chooses to be murdered rather than to submit her chastity to a fraudulent man. The Physician's Tale thus resembles the Man of Law's Tale and the Clerk's Tale. But unlike Constance or Griselde, Virginia is not the central character of her story. She exists only for the purpose of a single sacrifice, unlike the constant barrage of torment that the other two women suffer. The stature of Virginia's sacrifice is therefore diminished. Furthermore, the mechanics of this sacrifice are distasteful. The story focuses primarily on the schemes of Appius and Claudius, who are no more than one-dimensional villains. The sacrifice that Virginia makes is perilously close to murder the choice that her father offers her between shame and death is nearly a threat, and the means by which her death is achieved is unfortunately brutal. The conclusion of the story is further dramatically unsatisfying, for although it serves the appropriate punishment to the villains, the conclusion shifts the story from Virginia's sacrifice to the villain's mistake. The Tale becomes an exceedingly simple warning for moral behavior those who contrive to rape the daughter of a powerful man will be punished instead of a meditation on sacrifice.
ClassicNote on The Canterbury Tales
|
