The Physician's Tale
by Geoffrey Chaucer
Variorum Chaucer (Collections and Selections — II.17), The Canterbury Tales
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Part Seventeen The Physician’s Tale, somewhat neglected during the nineteenth century, has enjoyed a resurgence of scholarly attention over the past quarter century. The early sources of the tale bequeathed to Chaucer an exemplum of the abuse of justice: a father kills his daughter to prevent an unscrupulous judge from taking possession of her. In Chaucer’s hands, however, the tale undergoes a number of changes and additions by which it becomes peculiarly his. Helen Storm Corsa gives show more scrupulous attention to the strategies by which Chaucer appropriates the tale, particularly the addition of the long passage dealing with the topic of Natura Genetrix and the surprising advice to governesses on the care of their charges, a section that has yielded a considerable amount of political commentary. Taken together, the two passages lend the tale a rich intertexuality that makes it, in Corsa’s survey, a fruitful source of interpretation for scholarship. Corsa demonstrates above all else that The Physician’s Tale will continue to make tantalizing claims on our interest and attention. Most interesting of all, she shows, is that Chaucer seems deliberately to have set aside both the political and the moral implications of his originals for the sake of artistic ends-definition of which continues to challenge the scholarly community. This unusually full treatment of The Physician’s Tale should prove to be an indispensable aid to student and teacher alike. show lessTags
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Geoffrey Chaucer, one of England's greatest poets, was born in London about 1340, the son of a wine merchant and deputy to the king's butler and his wife Agnes. Not much is known of Chaucer's early life and education, other than he learned to read French, Latin, and Italian. His experiences as a civil servant and diplomat are said to have show more developed his fascination with people and his knowledge of English life. In 1359-1360 Chaucer traveled with King Edward III's army to France during the Hundred Years' War and was captured in Ardennes. He returned to England after the Treaty of Bretigny when the King paid his ransom. In 1366 he married Philippa Roet, one of Queen Philippa's ladies, who gave him two sons and two daughters. Chaucer remained in royal service traveling to Flanders, Italy, and Spain. These travels would all have a great influence on his work. His early writing was influenced by the French tradition of courtly love poetry, and his later work by the Italians, especially Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch. Chaucer wrote in Middle English, the form of English used from 1100 to about 1485. He is given the designation of the first English poet to use rhymed couplets in iambic pentameter and to compose successfully in the vernacular. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is a collection of humorous, bawdy, and poignant stories told by a group of fictional pilgrims traveling to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket. It is considered to be among the masterpieces of literature. His works also include The Book of the Duchess, inspired by the death of John Gaunt's first wife; House of Fame, The Parliament of Fowls, and The Legend of Good Women. Troilus and Criseyde, adapted from a love story by Boccaccio, is one of his greatest poems apart from The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer died in London on October 25, 1400. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, in what is now called Poet's Corner. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- The Physician's Tale
- Original publication date
- 1987
- People/Characters
- The Physician; Virginius (father of Virginia in the Physician's Tale); Virginia (in the Physician's Tale); Appius (in the Physician's Tale); Claudius (in the Physician's Tale)
- Important events
- Middle Ages
- Dedication
- This edition is dedicated to M. F. S.,
and to the memory of A. J. M. and G. C. - First words
- General Editors' Preface
A Variorum Edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is a collaborative effort of forty-two medievalists whose chief interest is the work of Geoffrey Chaucer and his time.
Preface
It is thanks to the Chaucer Variorum that a pilgrim as little liked and as enigmatic a figure as the Physician emerges as a narrator of greater interest then he was once assumed to be.
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- English
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