Canterbury Tale(the Man of Law’s Tale)

THE CANTERBURY TALES (The earthly concern of fair plays Tale) The Man of lawfulnesss Tale (also calledThe Lawyers Tale) is the fifth of theCanterbury TalesbyGeoffrey Chaucer, written around 1387. Summary The Man of Law, also known as The Sergeant at Law, tells aRomancetale of a Christian princess named Custance (the modern form would be Constance) who is betrothed to theSyrianSultan on condition that he convert toChristianity. The Sultans mother connives to prevent this and has Constance dictated adrift on the sea.Her adventures and trials continue after she is shipwrecked on theNorthumberlandcoast. Northumberland is a pagan country where the King, Alla (establish on Chaucers judgement of the historical? lla of Deira1) eventually converted to Christianity. Allas evil mother intercepts and falsifies a letter between the couple, which results in Constances organism banished. Constance is forced to go to sea again and is found by a Senator of Rome. The Senator takes Constance (and her child) back to Italy to serve as a household servant.King Alla, still heartbroken over the loss of Constance, goes to Rome on a pilgrimage, and fortunately finds Constance. In the end the couple return to Northumberland. Alla dies a year later, and the baby boy becomes the King. - - Sources The tale is based on a fib within theChroniclesofNicholas Trivetbut the major theme in the tale, of an exiled princess uncorrupted by her suffering, was common in the literature of the time. 2Her tale is also told in keister GowersConfessio Amantis, and both atomic number 18 correspondent to the verseRomanceEmare, and the cycle is generally known as the Constance cycle. 2The oldest known variant of this particular eccentric person isVitae duorum Offarum. 3More distantly related forms of the persecuted heroine includeLe Bone Florence of Rome, andGriselda. 4 An incident where Constance is framed for murder by a bloody dagger appears to be a direct borrowing fromCrescentia. 5 - - Analysis S aints lives genreThe tale is meant as a morally uplifting story and is similar tohagiography, or stories of the saints lives, which were common popular literature of the time. Custance, as her name suggests, is constant to herChristianreligion despite the attacks and testing it receives from thepagansandheathensshe meets on her travels. Rhetoric The Man of Law tells his story in a pompous over-blown style as if he is defending Custance in a court of law. He also uses manyrhetorical figures, taken straight from the manuals of rhetoric of the day, to emphasize Custances noble characteras well as the tellers lawyerly skillsand state her case.John Gower Although Chaucer receives some praise and also criticism from his own character with fortunate mentions ofThe Book of the DuchessandThe Legend of Good Women in the Man of Laws prologue he seems to spare most of his opprobrium forJohn Gower. original research? Two of the tales which he dislikes,CanaceandApollonius of Tyre, involveincest, as did the some versions of the story. Chaucer based this tale on theNicholas Trivetstory from hisChronicle. Gower though had recorded all these stories. Chaucer is, perhaps, with friendly banter, trying to goad his friend and fellow writer into a storytelling challenge.But certeinly no word ne writeth he Of thilke wikke wicked ensample of Canacee, That loved hir owene brother synfully Of swiche cursed stories I sey fy Or ellis of tiro Appollonius, How that the cursed kyng Antiochus Birafte his doghter of hir maydenhede, That is so horrible a tale for to rede, Whan he hir threw upon the pavement. Sequence with other tales The various manuscripts of the tales resist on the structure of the tales with some containing the Man of Laws epilogue and others not. In theepilogue, the host invites theParsonbut he is interrupted before he can begin and a different speaker tells the next tale.TheSummoner, the escortand theShipmanare listed as interrupters in the different manuscripts but i t is the Shipman whose character best matches the rude remarks although the mention of his joly tree trunk sounds closer to something thewife of Bathmay say. What it probably shows is that Chaucer had not fixed his overall plan. There are also hints, with his claim he will talk in prose despite rhyming throughout, that the Man of Law originally told theTale of Melibeebefore he was assigned Custances tale late in the composition of the tales.