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Summary and Analysis of The Man of Law's Tale
Fragment II The Words of the Host to the Company and Prologue to the Man of Law's Tale: The host speaks to the rest of the travelers, telling them that they can regain lost property but not lost time. The host suggests that the lawyer tell the next tale, and he agrees to do so, for he does not intend to break his promises. He says that we ought to keep the laws we give to others. He even refers to Chaucer, who works ignorantly and writes poorly, but at the very least does not write filthy tales of incest. The Man of Law tells the company that he will tell a tale by Chaucer called the tale of Cupid's Saints. The lawyer prepares for the tale he will tell about poverty, and does so in a pretentious and formal manner. AnalysisIn the prologue to the Man of Law's Tale, Chaucer once again plays with the divergence between the actual author and the narrator of each tale with the lawyer's critical reference to Chaucer, as if he were not the actual architect of the tale's words. The lawyer's critique of Chaucer is playful, little more than a sarcastic jibe at Chaucer's own abilities and a critique of Chaucer's contemporaries not meant to be taken seriously. In fact, little that the lawyer says is momentous or significant. Chaucer portrays the lawyer as pompous and formal, addressing the motley crowd as if he were speaking to the court. The Man of Law's Tale, Part One: In Syria there dwelt a company of wealthy traders who made a journey to Rome. After a certain time there, they beheld Constance, the emperor's daughter, who was renowned equally for her goodness and beauty. When the merchants returned to Syria, they reported to the sultan what they had seen; he immediately was taken with lust and wonder for Constance. The sultan met with his advisors and told them of his intent, but they could conceive of no way that he could marry Constance, for no Christian emperor would allow his daughter to marry a Moslem. The sultan thus decided that he would convert to Christianity and that his baronets would follow him in his conversion. With this conversion the Roman emperor gave Constance away in marriage, but she was overcome with sorrow, for she did not wish to be sent to a foreign country. She accepts, however, thinking that women are made to be subject to men's governance. The mother of the sultan (the sultana), however, learned of his intentions to convert, and sent for her own council. Analysis: The Man of Law's Tale exalts the sacrifice and honor of Constance, the daughter of the Roman emperor who will suffer a number of injustices during the years over which the story takes place. It is an overtly religious tale that does not even reach for the subtlety of allegory. Constance depends on her religious faith for her survival throughout a number of events in the story, while those characters who do not share her Christian faith are uniformly evil, whether pagan or Muslim. The tale takes a narrow view of humanity in which Christianity represents unadulterated purity and any other religious tradition is pure evil. Yet the Man of Law's Tale places a significant emphasis on fate; Her virtue and honor stem from her devotion to Christian principles, while those who adhere to other religious beliefs are automatically suspect. This holds true for the Syrians and even their sultan. The Lawyer describes them as covetous and, in the case of the sultan, lustful. He wishes to marry Constance before he has even met her, desiring the power that comes from her status as Roman royalty. The sultan is only redeemed when he chooses to convert to Christianity, but even when this occurs Constance still faces dancer from the sultana, whose villainy is shown by her devotion to her faith and unwillingness to accept Christian principles. The Man of Law's Tale, although the introduction claims it will be in prose form, actually is in rhyme royal. The Man of Law's Tale, Part Two: The sultana and her confidants agreed never to renounce the Islamic faith, and she compared Constance to Eve, tempting her son to sinful action. The mother of the sultan and her advisors will pretend to accept Christianity and host a feast for the sultan and his new wife. During this feast, the sultana had her followers massacre all of the attendants. Only Constance survived; they placed her on a rudderless boat heading back to Italy, with enough food to survive but no means of navigating to Rome. On this ship Constance remained for years. It was only through her prayer that she remained safe. The ship finally crashed on the shores of Northumberland. The warden of a nearby castle found Constance and gave her shelter, but she refused to reveal her identity. He and his wife, Dame Hermengild, were pagans, but Constance soon secretly converted the wife to Christianity in this heathen land. Christians could only practice their faith privately and secretly. While walking on the beach, Constance, Hermengild and her husband came upon a blind Christian, who identified her. Although Hermengild feared that her husband would reproach her for the conversion, he too became a Christian. The warden was not the lord of the castle. Instead, it was Alla, the king of Northumberland, who was at war against the Scots. A young knight, influenced by Satan, fell in love with Constance, but she would not return her favors. In an attempt to exact revenge upon her, he broke into the bedchamber where Constance and Dame Hermengild slept, slit Hermengeld's throat and placed the knife beside Constance. Soon after the warden came home with Alla and found his wife murdered. The knight blamed Constance for the crime, but everyone supported Constance, unable to believe that she would murder Hermengild. Still, with the knight's accusation Constance was to be put to death. She prayed for a miracle and, moved by her pleas, Alla decided to make the knight swear on the Bible that Constance was the murderer. When he did so, the knight was struck down and his eyes burst. Upon witnessing this miracle, Alla converted to Christianity himself and sentenced the knight to death. Alla took Constance as his wife, but Lady Donegild, his mother, was distressed at the development. After their marriage, when King Alla was in Scotland, Constance gave birth to a child named Mauritius. She sent letters to him, but Donegild intercepted them and replaced them with a different letter, claiming that the new child was foul and wicked. Alla, however, wrote back that he vowed to love the child. She intercepted the new letter, and replaced it with one that banished Constance and her child on the same boat from which they came. Analysis: Although the sultana compares Constance to Eve, this comparison is entirely wrong. In the context of the story, Constance does not tempt others to sin, but instead acts as the one bastion for moral behavior. If anything, she is incapable of tempting other characters; Constance is an unwavering, passive character who is moved by the plot and only in rare occasions is an active character. The sultana, however, is irredeemably wicked, ordering her son and his fiancée's murder. That Constance survives is a testament to her Christian faith. During the numerous times in which she faces fatal consequences, Constance relies in prayer for her survival and, without fail, this technique is successful. Therefore her survival during the massacre in Syria can be attributed in part to her Christianity; she is the only Christian among the group and the only survivor. The Lawyer's tale is essentially one that glorifies Christianity and its values. The warden of the castle and Hermengild prove their worth through conversion, and the narrator makes clear that Christians in England are persecuted for their beliefs. Their adherence to the faith thus becomes a noble sacrifice, for they risk their own lives by becoming Christians. Yet without fail each of the pagan characters is ignoble. The narrator describes the knight who murders Hermengild and attempts to frame Constance as influenced by Satan, while Donegild, a pagan who refused to convert to Christianity, schemes to have her son's wife banished. The scheming Donegild shares obvious similarities with the murderous sultana. Both design to prevent Constance from marrying their sons, fearful of the Christian influence that Constance brings to their respective nations. The two mothers fall into the same fairy-tale mold as a wicked stepmother, cardboard villainesses with no redeeming qualities. The defining characteristic of both women that mark them as evil is their paganism, which drives them to murderous action. The Man of Law's Tale, Part Three: When Alla returned home, he learned what had happened and murdered his mother for her cruelty. But Constance had already set sail, and ended up in another foreign kingdom, where she happened to find the warden's steward, who came to her ship and attempted to rape her. Fortunately, he suddenly fell overboard and was drowned. The story returns to the tale of the sultana. The emperor of Rome sent an army to Syria in response to the massacre of the Christians. On their way home, the senator who led the army in Syria met Constance. They brought her back to Rome, but nobody remembered her, not even the senator's wife, who was Constance's aunt. Meanwhile, King Alla made a pilgrimage to Rome to make penance for what had happened with his mother and his wife. The senator went to feast with King Alla, who saw young Mauritius and vaguely recognized him. He was thus reunited with his wife and son. Constance is also reunited with her father, who did not recognize her after so many years. Alla and Constance returned to England, while Mauritius (Maurice) later became emperor of Rome. Analysis: An unwavering devotion to Christian belief saves Constance once more, when she fends off an attack by a (pagan) rapist through divine intervention. Fate and coincidence play a defining role in the story, exposing the knight as a ruthless murderer and preventing the steward from raping Constance. These coincidences always occur in a religious context; the knight suffers divine harm when he swears on the Bible, while Constance's prayer is rewarded when the steward attacks her. Yet despite her travails several murder plots against her, banishment and attempted rape Constance survives and remains devoted to her faith. She is thus comparable to biblical characters such as Jonah and Job. Her final reward for her steadfast faith comes when she reunites with both her father and her husband upon her final return to Rome. Even in the fate of Maurice is the influence of Christianity felt. He becomes emperor of Rome only when the pope gives his assent. Epilogue to the Man of Law's Tale: The Host praised the Lawyer for his tale, and urged the Parish Priest to tell a tale. The Parson chides the Host for swearing, and he in turn mocks the Parson as a "Jankin" (a contemptuous name for a priest). The Shipman decides that he will tell a tale next. In the fragments that remain of the Canterbury Tales, however, the Shipman's Tale exists later in the manuscripts, in the seventh set of stories. The Wife of Bath's Tale follows instead.
ClassicNote on The Canterbury Tales
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