re: Leave Order Out of the Pot

The Caged Wife

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Why_The_Caged_Bird_Sings_by_jesidangerously.jpg

While there were a few lessons/ morals in "The Manciple's Tale", the one that stood out the most to me was that a person's nature, like an animal's, is a powerful influence. Men cannot control what is someone's primal nature. The Manciple tells the group, "God it woot, ther may no man embrace/ As to destreine a thing which that nature/ Hath naturally set in a creature" (160-162).

Not that it needs to be said, but I do not condone the wife cheating on Phebus, but I think that it is interesting that the Manciple compared her desires to an animal's. After the discussion we had on "The Nun's Priest's Tale" the other week about how in medieval times animals were thought to have no soul, it was interesting to me that this tale made the implication that humans have no more control over their behavior than animals. The Manciple describes Phebus' wife like being a caged bird or a house cat, owned and living outside of her nature.

Comparing wives to a caged bird or house cat is statement that says when men control the wives, the women are no different than a kept animal, and eventually they will act out their true nature no matter how well they are loved or treated, like the cat who drinks milk, but then sees a mouse (175-177). The control does not stop the act, the wife will just look for another way. We have seen this in "The Miller's Tale" with John and Alison's marriage and "The Merchant's Wife" like January and May. The wives in these stories like Phebus' wife find ways to have their affairs regardless of the control and jealousy the husband had.

LOL Manciple

For more LOL Pilgrims: http://houseoffame.blogspot.com/2007/05/i-can-hath-cheezburger.html

There's something simple and appealing about The Manciple's Tale. It remains one of my favorites because it sounds like the kind of story you would hear as a child, something out of Aesop's Fables.

The funny thing about it, though, is that the Manciple's mother isn't very good at taking her own advice. How long is that speech telling him to guard his tongue and not use more words than are strictly required? ;-)

Leave Order Out of the Pot

The canon’s yeoman is not the first scientist/magician we have met throughout the Canterbury Tales and yet the treatment of alchemy seems unique among collection of physicians, magicians, and illusionists. Probably one of the best (and most concise) descriptions of the foolery that is alchemy comes in the “Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale,” starting around line 906 and ending at 931. This is the moment the yeomen describes the catastrophe that occurred when their clay pot broke. He describes the explosion of the contents as such:

   Alchemist Pic Link

They percen so, and thurgh the wal they goon,
and somme of hem sinken into the ground—
Thus han we lost betimes many a pound—
And somme ar scattered al the floor aboute,
Somme lepe into the roof. Withouten doute, (911-915)

To add to the chaos of molten who-knows-what scattered about the room we then get alchemists scattered about the room blaming each other for the mishap. From their conversation it seems like they actually have no idea what happened. It was a fault of the fire, no the fire tender; actually it was the wrong kind of wood. Finally the master alchemist chimes in, “I am right skier that the pot was crased. / Be as be may, be ye nothing amased” (934-935), in other words, “cheer up. If the pot broke it was obviously already damaged; let’s try again our mix of explosive, molten stuff!” The overwhelming, overarching point of the Yeoman and his tale aside, this scene is beyond ridiculous even without knowing how ridiculous alchemy is from a scientific standpoint. Considering this outlook on alchemy, which is almost inseparable from other aspects of medieval science, I thought it interesting that the other appearances of similar things in the CT are put in a sober light. The wife of the knight in the WOB’s tale has both a sharp reason and the ability to shape shift. The physician gets probably the saddest and most sobering tale in the whole collection. Every wondrous gift in “The Squire’s Tale” seems cool beyond belief but also based on (what were then) reasonable ideas. And while the illusionist in “The Franklin’s Tale” may charge a lot of money, he delivers on his promised spells and they work fantastically.

            In trying to understand this difference, I looked back at the illusionist in “The Franklin’s Tale.” His process for creating his spells is completely different from the alchemists’. Where all of their emphasis is on the varying combinations of ingredients they add, the illusionist spends all of his time waiting, “That night and day he spedde him that he kan / To waite a time of his conclusioun” (“The Franklin’s Tale” 1262-1263). Further, he finally creates his spell when “at laste he hath his time yfounde” (1270). It seems then is that for the illusionist timing is literally everything. He knows enough about how the heavens move and how that affects the earth that he need only attempt is spell in its proper place for it to work. It might be a stretch, but this seems to tie into the theme of knowing your place and doing it well that is exemplified by several other tales in this text. Perhaps the reason that alchemy is not treated seriously is because almost by its nature it is trying to disrupt the order of things instead of using them, making gold of lead. That may not be a 100% true all the time but it seems to be part of what Chaucer is doing with alchemy.

"The Second Nun's Tale"

In the prologue to the tale, the Mother Superior's assistant tells us that she will speak about idleness and how it leads to Satan. What is interesting is that tale says a lot about the status of the woman telling the tale.

Instead of being just a recount of the story of St. Cecile, which is questionable, the Second Nun proves that she is a more intellectual than emotional being. Of course, women were not as highly educated as men in the Middle Ages, but that is not the question here. It seems to me that the intellectual tone of the tale mimics the typical plot of a female martyr story. Female martyrs were most commonly up against men and outargue them. This tale is set up as a response to "The Prioress's Tale"

First, at line 123, the Second Nun describes St. Cecile as, "Of Crist, and bar his gospel in hir mynde. / She vevere cessed, as I writen fynde, / Of hir preyree and God to love and drede" (SNT 123-25). St. Cecile has memorized the gospels and has no need of an intercessor between her and God. For Catholics, the middle-man of the priest is essential to communication with God. Thus, St. Cecile renders her male counterparts useless in her religious pursuits.

Again, at lines 337-343, St. Cecile is associated with the intellectual.

"That shal I tell," quod she, "er Igo.
Right as a man hath sapiences three--
Memorie, engyn, and intellect also--
So in o beynge of divinitee,
Thre persons may ther right wel bee."
Tho gan she hym ful busily to preche
Of Cristes come, and of his peynes teche, (SNT 337-43)

Two things are apparent here. First, she is associated totally with the intellect. In fact, there is no language that suggests there is some kind of emotional connection on her part. So, is it possible that this affects the emotional connection the reader makes to the tale. Second, she takes the Holy Trinity and aligns it totally with the intellect.

All this is in contradiction with the young man in "The Prioress's Tale" who is described as,

This litel child, his litel book lernynge,
As he sat in the scole at his prymer,
He Alma redemportis herde synge,
As children lerned hire antiphoner;
And as he dorste, he drough hym ner and ner,
And herkened ay the wordes and the noote,
Til he the firste vers koude al by rote.

Noght wiste he what this Latyn was to seye,
For he so yong and tendre was of age.
But on a day his felawe gan he preye
T'expounden hym this song in his langage, (516-26)

The child has no idea what he is saying (the lack of intellect), but he likes the sound of the tune so much he retains it to memory in order to sing it. There is the emotional connection to the song, albeit passive, that the Second Nun does not give to St. Cecile. It is the lack of the intellectual understanding that leads to the boy's death.

That being said, I have a few questions I have been unable to answer. First, how does the affect which tale the reader relates to? Second, what would be the reason for St. Cecile's lack of emotional connection with the gospel? Is there more than one moral to this tale? If so, what could they be?