The Franklin, Sir Orfeo and the Breton lai

Does the Franklin's Tale function as a Breton lai, keeping with tradition of a lai like Sir Orfeo ? Throughout the Franklin's Tale characters like the company of each other, and the activities it generates, to a degree beyond that of most players in the Canterbury Tales. The companionship of friends, relatives, and associates is evidence that the story consciously evokes the community from which the characters emerge. Further, these characters take a clear responsibility for public opinion; consider Arveragus's "To no wight telle thou of this aventure." Most significantly, perhaps, is a social status that does not always respond to the level of aristocracy, seen especially in the role of the clerk of Orleans. In short, the Franklin's Tale addresses the concerns of an actual society in ways that are not found in most romance. The prominence of the social situation lies in Chaucer's conscious choice of the Breton lai as the genre of this tale, and for his discretion in observing the conventions of the form throughout. A closer look at social references in the extant lays strongly supports the view that Chaucer inserted them into his poem in imitation. The lays place considerable emphasis on social order as well as on human relationships. Sir Orfeo's responsibility is almost as much with the continuing well-being of the state as with recovery of the abducted queen. Equitan comes to an evil end because he neglects his royal responsibilities to woo a woman of inferior status. Similar demands of society are present in the Franklin's Tale, not just peripherally, but centrally. The social milieu detailed in this tale thus fits the social context of other Breton lais, both French and English. Is this coincidence or intent? There is compelling reason to believe that Chaucer was familiar with the lai form and that he used its social dimensions with enormous art. Chaucer is far too cautious a writer to use the term Breton lai just to induce a romantic subject matter and a geographical background. He was well aware of the ways in which the lai departed from typical romance conventions and used them easily and skillfully, embroidering in the same way, although for a different purpose, than he did conventions of the metrical love in Sir Thopas later.

Wife of Bath: An exercise in travel.

A Pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place that is either physical or spiritual, sometimes both. In Medieval English literature characters go on expeditions that often define their character. In The Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath transforms into the voice of reason and experience through obstacles and challenges that test the human condition in marriage. The conceptions that play out in her prologue and tale, this “travel” narrative, both literal and figurative are there to test the her character. In every work, the protagonist follows a path, both specific and unspecific, to improve their well-being. Moving from one place to another, either spiritually or physically, hints at a noticeable change for the person both internally and externally. In essence, the movement creates a path that the characters must follow in order to accomplish what they have been motivated toward. In due course, whether the change is expected or unexpected, the person reaches a point at which they change because of the knowledge they have gained from the experiences on the journey.

The Canterbury Tales is a set of stories recorded by Geoffrey Chaucer during an arranged pilgrimage to the tomb of Thomas a’Beckett, Bishop of Canterbury. There were to be a total of 120 stories in The Canterbury Tales; Chaucer only completed 22. Nevertheless the frame work he adopted for the stories was a plausible one. Moreover, by reporting the responses and relations that each tale evoked from all of the pilgrims, Chaucer added dramatic tension and even greater harmony to the assortment of tales. Chaucer was able to amass a diverse group of people from extensively divided social classes. This pilgrimage was an important one in the life of the church but also in the life of the sinner. The General Prologue is an introduction to the character; Chaucer is concerned with establishing the identity of each narrator. The pilgrimage begins in a little pub outside of London sometime in April when people are accustomed to taking trips of this sort. Chaucer feels obligated to tell the stories of each person truly. He feels that no one should be offended by language or content because he argues that the story-teller is telling the truth and is, in fact, confessing. In the case of the confession and the pilgrimage, The Wife of Bath tale stands out. Chaucer sets up an unusually long prologue in order for the audience to understand the impetus of her story. She is a powerful woman, who has been married five times, but her experiences within the marriages are more important than her authority; she has become anti-male. Her prologue and the tale are a combination of narration and confession. Since she has been married five times she no longer accepts male dominance over her, hence the premise of her tale. She is not apologetic for who she is; she is prepared to take communal authority over those who speak against her. Her sole purpose is sovereignty.

Her tale is a romance tale, but it is an unusual one. A boy has been charged with rape and will be put to death. The women of the court decide they were the only ones that had the right to pass judgment and punishment on this boy. So they take him to their own court where, as punishment, he must find out what women really want. For a year and a day he is allowed to wander trying to find the answer; if he is able to find out he will live, if he fails to do so he dies. He finally meets a woman so ugly he cannot ley his eyes upon her just as his time is running out. She proceeds to present him with a contract; she will tell him what all women want if he, in turn, agrees to marry her. She explains that women want sovereignty over men. She also reminds him that although he is noble he is not gentle in her sense of the word. She lectures to him about the importance of learning compassion, consideration and Christian love. The woman then presents the boy with another contract. The contract is such that she is to remain an old and ugly woman but remains faithful by his side or she becomes young, and the most beautiful woman but is unfaithful. He then leaves the decision up to her; she chooses beautiful but faithful because he was willing to sacrifice his own happiness and pleasure by learning from his mistakes. He goes back to the court a changed man, changed for the better because he was able to examine that which was essential and that which was not.

What the tale establishes is the conception that women are only truly able to exercise sovereignty through the scope of the man's allowance.

A Chaucerian Pub Joke

The Chaucer Pubbe Gagge

Three fellowes wenten into a pubbe,
And gleefullye their handes did rubbe,
In expectatione of revelrie,
For 'twas the houre known as happye.
Greate botelles of wine did they quaffe,
And hadde a reallye good laffe.
'Til drunkennesse held full dominione,
For 'twas two for the price of one.
Yet after wine and meade and sac,
Man must have a massive snack,
Great pasties from Cornwalle!
Scottishe eggs round like a balle!
Great hammes, quaile, ducke and geese!
They suck'd the bones and drank the grease!
(One fellowe stood all pale and wan,
For he was vegetarianne)
Yet man knoweth that gluttonie,
Stoketh the fyre of lecherie,
Upon three young wenches round and slye,
The fellowes cast a wanton eye.
One did approach, with drunkene winke:
"'Ello darlin', you fancy a drink?",
Soon they caught them on their knee,
'Twas like some grotesque puppettrie!
Such was the lewdness and debaucherie -
'Twas like a sketch by Dick Emery!
(Except that Dick Emery is not yet borne -
So such comparisonne may not be drawn).
But then the fellowes began to pale,
For quail are not the friende of ale!
And in their bellyes much confusione!
From their throats vile extrusione!
Stinking foule corruptionne!
Came spewinge forth from droolinge lippes,
The fetide stenche did fille the pubbe,
'Twas the very arse of Beelzebubbe!
Thrown they were, from the Horne And Trumpette,
In the street, no coyne, no strumpet.
Homeward bounde, must quicklie go,
To that ende - a donkey stole!
Their handes all with vomit greased,
(The donkey was not pleased,
And threw them into a ditche of shite!)
They all agreed: "What a brillant night!"

This joke is in answer to Erin Webb's rap post. I heard this a while ago and thought I would share. It is absolutely brilliant since it is simply a "pub joke." The three pilgrims I envision as the "three men" are the Miller, the Reeve and the Pardoner. Try reading it out loud, it's fun and challenging at the same time. Something as simple a joke in middle English sounds at once ridiculous as it is "proper."

Here is the youtube video of the stand-up comic Bill Bailey doing it's fantastic.

The Wi-Fi of Bath.

This to me seems appropriate. In the day and age in which people are obsessed with material possessions we should stop to pause and assess the situation. Whereas now husbands and wives often grapple with time spent on phones, computers, and smart phones, all the Wife of Bath wanted was a little less consternation and a little more freedom. Ahhh where time has gone.

This one's going out to Erin Riley tonite.

The Franklin's Tale.

"A ship al steerelees:" religion & identity in the Man of Law's Tale

At a recent conference on medieval studies at Catholic University, a presenter addressed the relationships between daughters and fathers in The Canterbury Tales; in treating the Man of Law's Tale, she talked about the "dangerous space" that a daughter inhabits in transit from her father's house to her husband's house. Another paper at the conference, delivered by our own Usha Vishnuvajjala, addressed the life of Margery Kempe, who was able to construct a new identity-- outside of the one prescribed to her as a woman-- through religiosity. These two presentations together got me thinking about the way in which Custance is able to consolidate a self-determined identity as a "doghter of hooly chirche (675), a "doghter of [Christ's] chirche (567), only by inhabiting this watery middle space between daughter (of her earthly father) and wife. Even as a mother, Custance has the freedom to communicate or keep secret her paternally- or matrimonially-defined identity: "But what she was she wolde no man seye, / For foul ne fair, thogh that she sholde deye" (524-25).

I'm interested in the element of self-determination in the Man of Law's Tale primarily because Custance-- "born to thraldom and penance" (286)-- actually seems like the least self-determining person ever, except for maybe Griselda. What do other people think? If Custance's religiosity can be seen as an expression of agency (even subversion?) in the social structure that assigns her roles based on her relationships with men-- how do we understand Alla's mother's religiously-motivated grab for power?

This amazing spam-fest is winding down.

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Here is a beautiful illustration of the "ship al steerelees"-- Constance by Albert Pinkham Ryder:

The Canterbury Tales & Rap

So, a rap remix of the Canterbury Tales would already be pretty sweet, but I especially wanted to present for your meditation what rapper Baba Brinkman sees as pronounced continuity between hip-hop and the CT:

The most remarkable analogies I found between Chaucer and hip-hop were not only historical, however; they were also reflected explicitly in the organizational structure of The Canterbury Tales. The text consists of a collection of stories that Chaucer wrote over the course of about fifteen years towards the end of his life. Some of the Tales were apparently composed before he began the compilation, while others were obviously tailor-made for the project. To bring all of these different stories together into one, Chaucer creates a fictional company of pilgrims riding on horseback from London to Canterbury, who all decide to play a game to help pass the time along the way: a storytelling contest. Each tale represents an entry in the contest by one of the pilgrims, and Chaucer ascribes certain personality traits to each of them, which are then reflected in the tale. What begins on the surface as a religious pilgrimage soon takes a profane turn when the stories become a vehicle for challenges and insults aimed at the other pilgrims. Chaucer employs the competition as a unifying principle, and also as a device to expose social tensions among the pilgrims, while showcasing their different storytelling techniques and levels of ability.

The clearest analogy for this storytelling contest model in hip-hop culture is the phenomenon of the freestyle battle, a live performance event that underlies the majority of recorded rap lyrics either in style or content. By definition, a freestyle is a rap that is unwritten and unrehearsed, composed by the rapper in the moment of performance, with rhymes that are improvised on beat and, when required, on topic. A freestyle battle is when two or more rappers compete in this way head to head, using punch lines, boasts, and insults to out-rhyme and outwit their opponents. The two terms aren’t interchangeable though, since written rhymes are sometimes used in battles, and freestyles are often simple demonstrations of ability rather than direct competitions. Freestyle and battling perform the same function in hip-hop culture as Chaucer’s storytelling competition does in The Canterbury Tales, dramatizing social tensions among rappers and showcasing different techniques and levels of ability. These systems were developed in response to the particular conditions of hip-hop’s genesis.

The frame for Brinkman's rewrite is a rap fan stumbling onto a tour bus that takes off unexpectedly toward the next venue; the rappers on the bus agree to pass the time by battling with the MC assuming the role of the Host. You can read the rest of the introduction for Brinkman's The Rap Canterbury Tales here; I def. recommend listening to the provided song samples, and you can see part of Brinkman's adaptation of the Pardoner's Tale here.

In a burst of ill-advised pride, the first
Of the three rioters replied, "This guy
Is a spy, or worse! I guess Death is his master,
And gives him everlasting life forever after,
A benevolent benefactor, perhaps, to have protecting you,
But nothing gets a confession faster than weapons do!"

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On a related note: