I loved the Franklin's Tale so much. It was beautiful, and happy,
and everyone was a good person (well, the clerk not so much, but he was nice in
the end) and I really enjoyed that story. There were several passages
that I highlighted because the wording was just so beautiful.
And then we go to the Physician’s Tale. WOW, was that a change in
pace.
The ending didn’t seem to fit. The Physician warns against sinning
in the end, but it seemed more like he was saying that if you sin, than someone
will come up with a plan to steal your daughter and you’ll have to kill her. But
unless I missed it, there wasn’t a sin which was talked about in relation to
the Knight. He was even described as “fulfild of honour, and of worthinesse,/And
strong of freendes, and of greet richesse” (lines 3 and 4.)
The sin committed in this tale was committed by the judge and the
churl. However, the focus wasn’t on them. It was on the Knight and his daughter.
I was very confused by this tale. And saddened. I want more happy
stories L
I agree about wanting more happy stories. I also agree about being confused about the message.
ReplyDeleteThe host in the next part interprets the message as--bad things happen to people who are given too many of nature's gifts--which I see as blaming Virginia.
Since I'm writing this after class, you've heard my theory that this story is more about the power of groups of people for good and evil.
Maybe, and I mean maybe, one good point is this. The judge (assuming I'm translating right) wanted to bodily sin with Virginia. As I understand Christianity, going to heaven is a good thing, and this way Virginia gets to go to heaven as pure as possible.
At the end, the people consider the knight a sinner but ask for pity for him, so he is exiled. Which means that they thought there was another option possible. Maybe his sin was not standing up for his daughter? OK--this is kind of a high standard, but Joseph did stand up for Mary even when she was pregnant.
That's my best guess.
You have good ideas.