The Franklin's Prologue and Tale
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The Franklin's Tale is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
A franklin was a medieval landowner, and this pilgrim's words when interrupting the Squire are often seen as displaying his social climbing tendencies. After stopping the Squire's seemingly endless tale he obsequiously praises him and complains that his own son is not so learned until the Host tells him to tell his own tale, which he does only after warning his audience that he is a "burel" (simple) man. This is an example of the rhetorical device of diminutio as he then goes on to employ several more rhetorical devices throughout the Tale.
The story tells of a young knight named Arveragus and a young woman named Dorigen, who fall in love. In this the Tale differs from most stories of courtly love, as the lady is wooed and won by her knight at the very beginning. Unusual for an early English text, the two lovers decide that their marriage should be one of equal status, although they agree that in public, Arveragus should make decisions so as not to draw suspicion. Arveragus then travels to Britain to seek honour and fame, leaving Dorigen in France alone.
While he is gone, Dorigen falls into a deep depression. In an attempt to cheer her up her friends invite her to a garden where a squire, Aurelius, declares his love for Dorigen, who refuses his love because of her great devotion to her husband. However, she jokingly says that she will be his lover if he can make the rocks in the sea, upon which she fears her dearest's ship will crash, disappear. Aurelius pays a law student, with knowledge of astrology, to help him achieve this.
The high time comes as predicted just as Arveragus returns safely, and Dorigen is promptly confronted by both men claiming her hand. After days of lamenting and agonizing over her predicament, during which she lists numerous examples of legendary women who killed themselves rather than submit to losing their virginity (Dorigen is considering suicide to avoid losing her honor), Dorigen tells her husband of her promise to the squire. Arveragus insists that Dorigen keep her word, demanding that she go to Aurelius. (In this, Arveragus mirrors the Franklin, who aspires to an idealistic standard of nobility and "gentilesse").
However, Aurelius himself defers to nobility when he recognizes that the couple's love is true, and Arveragus noble; he releases Dorigen from her oath. The magician is so pleased that he cancels the debt that Aurelius owes him.
At the end of the Tale, the Franklin asks the rhetorical question about the three characters, "Which was the mooste fre?" (ie, "Who was the most generous?")
As the Franklin says in his prologue, his story is in the form of a Breton lai, although it is in fact based on a work by the Italian poet and author Boccaccio (in which the suitor's task is to cause a garden to flower in winter). But the Franklin adapts the style so that it is barely recognizable as a lai. The relationship between the knight and his wife is explored, continuing the theme of marriage which runs through many of the pilgrims' tales. Also, where most of the lais involved magic and fairies, the fantastical element is completely undercut when a thorough understanding of science is used to make rocks disappear rather than a spell. This is fitting for a writer like Chaucer who was well versed in the science of the time and wrote a book on the use of the astrolabe.
While the idea of the magical transportation of rocks has a variety of potential sources, there is no direct source for the rest of the story. The rocks possibly come from the legends of Merlin performing a similar feat, or might stem from an actual event. Dr. Donald W. Olson, of Texas State University-San Marcos calculates that an unusual astronomical arrangement around Chaucer's birth may have caused tides to cover the rocks temporarily. The theme of the story, though, is less obscured: that of the "rash promise" in which an oath is made that the person does not envisage having to fulfill. The earliest example of the "rash promise" are the Sanskrit stories of the Vetala.
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| Preceded by The Squire's Prologue and Tale |
The Canterbury Tales | Succeeded by The Physician's Tale |
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