Vengeance versus Custaunce

What happens when you are in a rudderless boat? 

But shortly, from the castel on a night

The lords steward – God yeve him meschaunce! –

A theef that hadde reneyed our creunce,

Cam into ship alone and seide he sholde

Hir lemman be, wherso she wolde or nolde.

Wo was this wrecched woman tho bigon;

Hir child cride, and she cride pitously.

But blissful Marye help hire right anon;

For with hir strogeling wel and mightily

The theef fil overbord al sodeinly,

And in the see he dreinte for vengeaunce.

And thus has Crist unwemmed kept Custaunce.

“The Man of Law’s Tale” (913-924)

What originally attracted me to this passage was a note about it on p. 874 that said that Chaucer was unique in having Custaunce successfully fight back and save herself. I wondered why he differed from Trivet and Gower.

My first thoughts were to compare her to the other women we’ve met. Custaunce is the opposite of Alisoun—I believe she’s meant to be.  Emelye, like Custaunce, marries whoever she is told to marry. However, we don’t see Emelye after she leaves Diane’s care. Custaunce is now a mother. Unlike the mother in “The Reeve’s Tale”, Custaunce fights back to protect herself and her child. I particularly notice the fighting of the miller’s wife in “The Reeve’s Tale.” The miller’s wife actually hurts her husband, where Custaunce saves herself.

I also think about boats and water. You could say there are three rudderless boats in “The Miller’s Tale.” But while Alisoun, Nicholas, and John all say they are trusting to God’s guidance, Alisoun and Nicholas are lying, and John fails by falling asleep. I think there are also some echoes in “The Reeve’s Tale.” The characters may not be lost at sea, but it is so dark they cannot see where they are. For some reason the cradle makes me think of a rudderless boat as well. There are so many stories of babies being put to sea in cradles, boxes, etc. But unlike the miller’s wife, who doesn’t know where she is and just follows the cradle, Custaunce may be lost at sea but she knows who and where she is in terms of the boat and her values.

I find it harder to catch the wordplay Chaucer uses. However, these are the things I think I notice. There are three words emphasizing speed, “shortly,” “right anon,” and “sodeinly.” I also think the phrase “wolde or nolde” adds to the sense of speed. There is some use of alliteration. “Creance” connects with “cam” emphasizing that the thief who is coming has renounced his faith. “Wo was this wrecched woman” goes together to musically connect the words and emphasize Custaunce’s unhappy state. The repetition of “cride” in the next line highlights the unhappiness and leads the reader to expect helplessness (a helpless woman crying). It also is a line that forces the reader to take a noticeable pause after the first “cride.” This contrasts well with the iambic beat of the next line. The ending words of the last two lines, “vengeaunce” and “Custaunce” are what this story is all about. I am assuming “custaunce” means “constance” (which I can’t verify by MED, OED, or our book). “The Knight’s Tale” is about, among other things, constancy and what happens when constancy in keeping oaths is broken. All the tales since then have been tellers trying to get vengeance on the previous speaker. Now the man of law is bringing the listeners away from vengeance back to the appreciation of virtues. Go figure, a lawyer speaking for virtue.

WORKS CITED

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Ed. Jill Mann. London: Penguin, 2005. Print.

OED Online. September 2013. Oxford University Press. 23 September 2013