As the prologue begins the Franklin apologies for the fact that he is uneducated and a plain speaking man who is unaccustomed in the art of public speaking. However, I believe this to be a pun. It is a contradiction and he is just toying with the so called nobles. The Franklin actually displays extensive learning in the introduction, citing numerous classical references. The Franklin effusively praises the squires’ scholarship and affected language. This is also another sly joke, because although the squire can go on to be a noble and have gentille qualities, his tale is bogged down in rhetoric language. The Franklin knows he is mastered in the art of speech and rhetoric language and this is
2/
Another indication as to how Chaucer feels that gentillesse should be acquired rather than heredited.
Marriage is another major theme throughout the Franklins tale. During the middle ages many changes were taking place. For example in 1388 while Chaucer was working on the tales, a change occurred in the way that Christianity was perceived and practiced. When John Wycliffe, an English reformer, published the English version of the Bible it enabled people from the lower classes, who had not been educated in Latin, to read the Bible for the first time instead of having its words interpreted by members of the clergy.
The influence of Christianity can be seen in the Canterbury tales by the variety of social types represented. Fourteenth century Christian society had room for various ways of incorporating faith into life styles. In the Franklins tale the Franklin tells a tale that concludes with mercy and forgiveness for all. Chaucer is very clever here and subtlety reveals through the play a parallel of what is happening in Christianity. He inevitably states that all men should be able to be genteel and that a change is needed in a society which is resilient to change.
Marriage was also undergoing a transformation during the middle ages. Courtly love had been introduced in the early middle ages from France. It was a code of love where the female had all the power, the fate of her would-be-lover held firmly in her hand. She is not required to accept any man and is a harsh and unforgiving mistress, setting her loyal knight difficult and often arbitary tasks, so that the man can achieve perfection. However once the couple are married all the power shifts to the man and the woman becomes his property. “….Prively she fil of his accord to tame him for her housbonde and hir lord”
However, Averagus goes against the traditions and states that he wants Dorigen to retain her power and hand back the ‘Miritrie’ to her. Chaucer is proposing a question to his listeners: What happens once the social order has been re-arranged. The answer is a disaster, Dorigen, left to her own devices, gives her self away. When Averagus comes back he assumes power again and orders Dorigen to keep her promise.
“Ye shul your trouthe holden, by my fay!”
A new idea has failed here. Nonetheless, it seems odd that Chaucer, who wanted a change in social class, would do this. He is trying to say that change is needed. Society needs to change for anything else to change; although Averagus does not mind being equal he does not want it to be publicized for fear of being shamed or ridiculed.
‘The name of soverainetee…for share of his degree”
3/
They have moved on but society hasn’t and has thus prevented this change. Chaucer desires a change in society to enable a man who has the qualities to become gentille, but is not born one, to be a gentille.
When Aurelius is introduced to the story, he is depicted as the traditional courtly lover. All the books from history of courtly love are used to form the character of Aurelius. He has all the notions of courtly love and admires Doregin from afar, worshipping her almost. However like Doregin, Aurelius is extremely excessive, he plays the role of courtly lover so emphatically that by the end of the play he is no longer a courtly lover. Chaucer uses language to convey how stupidly melodramatic Aurelius is. In the course of the narrative Aurelius theatrically declares his death to be imminent more than a dozen times and is only 10 lines into his first conversation with Doregin before he is wishing to be buried at her feet!
“Heere at your feet God woulde that I were grave!”
When he is rejected by Doregin he is distraught, declaring he must ‘dye of sodden deth horrible’ However, this is only another example of Aurelius’ over- stated personality and he manages to stop the self pity after a mere two years. We learn how detached Aurelius has become from a courtly lover, because although he is aware of all the rules, Chaucer describes him with a list of similes declaring he is not a Lancelot who was a loyal knight to King Arthur or a Tristram the loyal servant, but a mere Pamphilus who was a good lover in his own way but does not compare to one of the literary greats.
“Than ever dide Pamphilis for galathee”
Courtly love was designed to make a knight even more of a man thus spurring him on to even more nobler acts, unlike Averagus who goes onto perform great deeds in England it has emasculated Aurelius and reduced him to a pinning girl and a complete monstrosity. Towards the end of the story Aurelia’s has been diminished to that of a desperate character. He lurks about, stalking Doregin and when he tells her that the rocks have gone his speech is menacing and coercive. Words such as ‘bihest’ and ‘trauthe’ creep into his vocabulary. The servant of love, according to tradition, is not worthy of his Ladies love, has become meaningful insistent and legalistic. The courtly veneer is wearing thin. The noble aspects of courtly love have disappeared amidst Aurelius’ expressive and unappealing attempts to be the ideal courtly lover. At the end of the tale Courtly love belongs to a romantic world of which Aurelius is no longer a part of.
At the end of the tale the Franklin asks the Question:
“Which was the moste free, is thinketh you?
By asking this question, Chaucer is saying which of the characters is the most generous. I believe it to be Averagus because although when he asks Doregin to hold her promise to Aurelius, this is not a gentille act in itself, but it is his act of generosity that spurs all the others to withhold their dept.
4/
Chaucer is revealing that all the characters have taken gentilless into the wrong context and are all obsessed with the ‘truthe’ aspect of it. Truth should be upheld together with all the other virtues of gentilleness like Justice, Mercy and Generosity. On it’s own it becomes evil. It may be true that “truthe is the hyeste thing that a man may hepe” but ‘highest’ does not mean ‘only’. It is indeed a virtue but unless it keeps company with the other virtues that collectively make gentillesse it can become a force for evil rather than good. All the characters hold truth to the highest degree and as we can see it turns out to be a disaster. It is Avergus who tells Doregin to hold her trouth and thus allows all the characters to perform truly gentille acts, as idea of gentillesse as it has been taken out of context many times throughout the play.
CONCLUSION
Chaucer’s message, which echoes throughout the tale, is to alert his audience to the fact that “gentillesse” is not so much a right of birth and breeding, but a fundamental human trait which can be found in any man regardless of his lineage. It is not a concept that is intended to be limited to the high born. The message is that all ranks of society are capable of noble actions and that such virtue can be found in the streets as well as the castles.