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by Cathy Hume HAuCER'SFranklin's Taleopenswithadescriptionofamarriage ofapparentlyidyllichappiness.ThemarriageofArveragusand Dorigen follows a long courtship where Arveragus served his ladyDorigenthroughmanyactsofchivalryandistobequitedifferent from the model of dominant husband and obedient wife adopted by WalterandGrisildeintheClerk's Tale.Arveragusswears Thatnevereinalhislyfhe,daynenyght, Nesholdeuponhymtakenomaistrie Agaynhirwyl,nekithehirejalousie, Buthireobeye,andfolwehirwylinal, Asanyloveretohisladyshal. Inreturn,Dorigenswearstobehis"humbletrewewyf"(758).Thenarratorapprovesthisasa"humble,wysaccord"(791)andgoesontoexplainthat,paradoxically,Arveragusis ...botheinlordshipeandservage. Servage?Nay,butinlordshipeabove, Sithhehathbothhisladyandhislove; Hislady,certes,andhiswyfalso. (79497) Thisarrangementhasbeenseenasutopian--mostfamouslybyG.L. Kittredge,whoarguedthat"abetterhasneverbeendevisedorimagTheFranklin's Tale,in The Riverside Chaucer,3rded.,gen.ed.LarryD.Benson(Oxford: OxforduniversityPress,1987),lines74650.SubsequentreferencestoThe Franklin's Tale aretothiseditionandwillbecitedparentheticallywithinthetextbylinenumber. 284 ©2008TheuniversityofNorthCarolinaPress Cathy Hume ined" and that it was Chaucer's own ideal. Indeed, it leads to more thanayearofmaritalbliss. However,themodelcontainsacontradictionthatismorethanamere elegantoxymoron.AlthoughjillMannarguesthatthealternationbetween"lordshipe"and`servage"representsaflexible,fluctuatingrelationship,thefactisthatArveragus'spublicroleisgoingtoshownosuch flexibility.Whilerenouncing"maistrie"inprivate,hewillretain"the nameofsoveraynetee...forshameofhisdegree"(75152).Inother words,hisconcernwithreputationwillleadhimtopaylipserviceto an ideal of male dominance that he does not espouse in private. At thepoem'scrisis,Arveragus'sbehaviorbecomesevenmorecontradictory.HetellsDorigenthatsheshouldfulfillheradulterouspromiseto Aurelius,whichimpliesthatherespectsherasanautonomoushuman being whose personal word should be honored rather than someone heownsandcontrols.Buthethenordershertotellnooneaboutwhat she is doing and threatens her with death if she does so. Arveragus has,then,bothrenegedonhisvowto"takenomaistrie"anddeepened thefissurebetweenthecouple'sprivatemaritalbehavior(whichnow encompasseshusband-sanctionedadultery)andtheconventionalface theypresenttothepublic. Howcan we account for this? In Alfred David's view, "Arveragus' insistenceonkeepinguptheappearancewhilewillingtosufferthefact diminishes hisnobilityandraises a seriousquestion aboutthedepth of the Franklin's conception of `gentilesse.'" Cynthia A. Gravlee believesthatArveragus'sconcernforhispublicimageoutweighshislove forDorigenandthathisapparentinterestin"trouthe,"whichsuitshis imageofworthyknight,isunderminedbyhissuppressionofthetruth fromthepublic.Shouldwe,then,considerArveragusahypocrite?Was Kittredge,"Chaucer'sDiscussionofMarriage,"Modern Philology9(1912):467. Mann,Feminizing Chaucer(Cambridge:D.S.Brewer,2002),90. johnM.FylerandCraigR.Davisarguethatwearetoseethispublicshowasawayof compensatingforArveragus'slowsocialstatus("LoveandDegreeintheFranklin's Tale," Chaucer Review21[1987]:32137;"APerfectMarriageontheRocks:GeoffreyandPhilippa Chaucer,andtheFranklin's Tale,"Chaucer Review37[2002]:12944).However,Iamnot convincedthatwearemeanttoseeanyseriousdisparityofstatusbetweenthe"knyght" ArveragusandDorigen's"heighkynrede"(735),sincethelatterissobrieflyandvaguely mentionedandseemstobesignificantmainlyasamanifestationofArveragus'sconventionalfeelingofbeingunworthyofhislady. David,The Strumpet Muse: Art and Morals in Chaucer's Poetry(Bloomington:Indiana universityPress,1976),190. Gravlee,"Presence,AbsenceandDifference:ReceptionandDeceptioninThe Franklin's Tale,"inDesiring Discourse: The Literature of Love, Ovid through Chaucer,ed.jamesj.Paxson andCynthiaA.Gravlee(Selinsgrove,PA:SusquehannauniversityPress,1998),181. he never truly committed to an equal marriage? Or was his utopian ideal unworkably flawed from
Studies in Philology – University of North Carolina Press
Published: Jul 17, 2008
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