His wealth and status is implied by language such as “Frankeleyn” which means a landowner, but is later confirmed by the description of his household. Chaucer makes constant accusations of gluttony against the Franklin “sop in wyn” and “His breed, his ale…fish and flessh” and goes into great detail explaining his excessive love for good quality food and drink and how it was always present within his house. The metaphor “It snewed in his hous of mete and drinke” creates Christmas imagery and emphasises the extensive amounts of food available at that time of year. The fact that his supply was so plentiful acknowledges the fact that he is a man of wealth.
By Chaucer comparing the Franklin to “Seint Julian”, the patron saint of hospitality, he is portraying the Franklin as a very generous and welcoming character, always eager for guests and friendly towards them giving a good deal of warmth in the description of the daisy-faced landowner.
The Franklin is also portrayed to be excessive in his desire for good living as well as consumption of food and drink. The description of his small dagger and silk purse “An anlaas and a gipser al of silk” makes him appear to be a gentleman whilst repeating the initial theme of Gentillesse, which the Franklin is attempting to portray himself of possessing. Gentillesse was widely known throughout the middle ages as a good quality for a wealthy noble man to possess. It required being gentle, brave, having social graces and integrity. The manner in which Chaucer makes the Franklin talk is very polite strengthening his eagerness to be gentil and gives the impression he is overly trying to be nobler than he is. Even with his associations with well respected noble men, the Franklin cannot deter away from the food imagery, as his purse is declared to be “as white as morning milk” in a simile used by Chaucer.
The “worthy” Franklin may have held many distinguished offices but the description of these “knight of the shire” only seem to occupy a few lines, where as his obsession with food and drink is told in great detail over 21 lines and that seems to be the Franklins main concern and highest priority, whereas his duty as Sheriff in the county seems to be an inferior concept. This can help to influence the readers’ opinion of the Franklin more negatively as it links with connotations to greed.
The idea that the Franklin has prioritised his life wrong is repeated later when he talks about his son, and wishes he was something else like the squire. The Franklin’s desperation for his son to change and behave in a nobler manner is shown when he says he would give up his wealth for it to be the case as “Fy on possessioun// But if a man be virtuous withal!” This is a striking thing for the Franklin to say as the reader has already been made aware about his obsession with his wealth and what it leads to. This can be lead to the Franklin be interpreted in a bad manner yet again, as his greed could be partly held responsible for his sons addiction to gambling, “pleye at dees, and to despende”.
Chaucer allows the Franklin to have a good knowledge of the spoken language of the time and this is made evident within the prologue, showing he is eloquent, poetic and well spoken by his use of interpretatio “colours ne knowe I none…but swiche colours are growen” when he says the same thing more than once but using different words and adnominatio “colours colours of rethorik” where he uses a metaphor and imagery relating to colours and flowers to show his elite use of language and how he can express himself through his voice. The Franklin also uses diminution when he begins his prologue, as he opens with an apology for his lack of public speaking ability and uncouth manner, “have me excused of my rude speech”. By putting himself down in this way, he is attempting to manipulate his audience and gain sympathy which contrasts with the illusion of him being gentillesse which he tries to conjure up.
Also the language used contradicts what the Franklin states about not being rhetoric. Rhetoric was a liberal art which was found very important in the middle ages and taught in universities which the Franklin states he has no knowledge of and is skills at public speaking are limited. This disclaimer is not meant to be taken seriously by the reader, as apologising for ones lacking rhetorical skill is ironically itself a rhetorical device intended to gain sympathy from the reader. This idea is continued when the Franklin is rude enough to interrupt the squire mid-speech; however the manner in which he does it is filled with courtesy and skill.
The Franklin explains that the tale he is about to tell is going to be exciting and pleasurable for the audience, “or elles redden hem for hir plesaunce”, this links back to the previous suggestions associated with him and his love to please people.
Within the Franklin’s prologue, another of the integral themes within the poem are raised, that one being the issue of Truth versus Illusion. This is highlighted when the Franklin tries to create many impressions and illusions of himself and his background to his audience during his speech, but really the truth is different from what he implies it to be. For example his enthusiasm to be overly polite suggests his keenness to confirm to gentil behaviour. This can be seen when the Franklin goes to great lengths to flatter the squire “thou hast thee well yquit”. This behaviour also hints that he is not as high in the social standing as he would prefer to be and maintains an air of elusiveness, as everything may not always be as it seems.
Within the portrait of the Franklin and his prologue, Chaucer spends great time explaining about his characters traits and personality, introducing him to the reader and allowing them to receive background knowledge on him early on so they can form initial opinions of him and feel more involved with the story. He is portrayed in a positive light initially with the use of similes and comparisons to well respected patron saints but then can be seen in a more negative manner as Chaucer presents him a very self obsessed way, as he seems to think to highly of himself and attempts to be overly humble and generous. This however can be seen to backfire upon his character, as it creates the opposite impression of him than he had intended.
