Welcome to Geoffrey Chaucer: The Franklin's Prologue and Tale
Welcome to your comprehensive study companion for Geoffrey Chaucer's The Franklin's Prologue and Tale, set for OCR AS Level English Literature (H072/01, Section 2: Poetry pre-1900).
At first glance, late 14th-century Middle English poetry might seem intimidating with its unfamiliar vocabulary and verse forms. Don't worry if this seems tricky at first! At its heart, the Franklin's narrative is a gripping human drama dealing with love, rash promises, moral dilemmas, illusion, and generosity. These notes break down every element step by step to give you the confidence to achieve top marks in AO1 (Literary Argument & Terminology), AO2 (Language, Form & Structure), and AO3 (Context).
---1. Understanding the Assessment Objectives (AOs)
For Component H072/01 Section 2 (Poetry pre-1900), the examination is a closed-text essay marked out of 30 marks. Your response must balance three core Assessment Objectives:
• AO1 (Argument & Technical Vocabulary): Formulate a clear, structured critical argument using precise literary terms (such as Breton lai, heroic couplets, exemplum, demande d’amour, and apostrophe).
• AO2 (Analysis of Form, Structure & Language): Closely analyse Chaucer’s rhyming iambic pentameter, rhetorical devices, imagery, dialogue, and dramatic pacing.
• AO3 (Contextual Understanding): Integrate relevant medieval literary traditions, feudal concepts of social class, chivalric codes of honor, and the Franklin’s own social status without biographical "context dumping".
2. The Historical and Literary Context (AO3)
Who Was Geoffrey Chaucer?
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343–1400) wrote The Canterbury Tales in the late 14th century in the London dialect of Middle English. The work uses a frame narrative: a diverse group of pilgrims travel from the Tabard Inn in Southwark to the shrine of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury, telling tales to pass the time.
Who is the Franklin?
The narrator is not a nobleman; he is a Franklin—a wealthy, freeborn country landowner. In the General Prologue, Chaucer describes him as an Epicurean ("Epicurus owene sone") who loves fine food, hospitality, and luxury. Because he is wealthy commoner rather than born nobility, he is anxious about social rank and deeply obsessed with gentillesse (noble character, gentility, and virtue).
Genre: The Breton Lai
In his Prologue, the Franklin claims his story is a Breton Lai—a short, rhymed romance originating among the ancient Celtic people of Brittany. Traditional features of this genre include:
• Celtic/Breton coastal settings (e.g., Armorica/Penmark).
• Chivalric knights, high-born ladies, and courtly romance.
• Themes of honor, rash promises, and noble self-sacrifice.
• Elements of the supernatural, marvels, or optical illusions.
The "Marriage Group" Context
Literary critics (notably G. L. Kittredge) place the Franklin's Tale within the famous "Marriage Group" of the Canterbury Tales (alongside tales by the Wife of Bath, Clerk, and Merchant). The central question is: How can a marriage succeed? Does it require female dominance, male mastery (maistrie), or mutual patience, equality, and forbearance (suffraunce)? The Franklin offers what appears to be an idealistic resolution.
Quick Review — Key Contextual Terms:
• Gentillesse: True nobility of spirit and moral virtue, contrasting with mere noble birth.
• Maistrie: Dominance, mastery, or sovereignty over another.
• Suffraunce: Patient endurance, tolerance, and mutual concession.
• Trouthe: One's sworn word, integrity, honor, and loyalty.
3. Plot Overview and Structural Breakdown
The narrative unfolds in Brittany (Penmark) across six key stages:
Stage 1: The Equal Marriage Compact
The Breton knight Arveragus woos the noble lady Dorigen. Upon marriage, he makes an unconventional vow: he will never exercise patriarchal dominance (maistrie) over her, while she promises to be an obedient wife. Arveragus retains only the public appearance of sovereignty to preserve his chivalric reputation. They establish a relationship founded on mutual respect and suffraunce.
Stage 2: Arveragus Departs & The Rash Promise
Arveragus sails to England for two years to seek military renown. In his absence, Dorigen grieves deeply. Staring out at the coast, she becomes terrified that the jagged black rocks ("grisly rokkes blake") will wreck his ship on his return. At a garden party, a handsome young squire named Aurelius—who has secretly loved her for two years—confesses his courtly devotion. Dorigen firmly rejects him, but jokingly and rashly adds a condition: she will love him only if he removes every black rock from the coast of Brittany.
Stage 3: The Illusion of the Orleans Magician
Desperate, Aurelius enlists a scholar/clerk from Orleans who practices natural magic and medieval astrology. Using astronomical calculations and the Toledan Tables, the clerk creates an optical illusion (illusioun / magik natureel) making the coastal rocks appear to vanish for an agreed fee of 1,000 pounds of silver.
Stage 4: Dorigen's Moral Dilemma and Classical Complaint
Aurelius confronts Dorigen, demanding she uphold her sworn word. Realizing she is trapped between two dishonourable choices—breaking her sacred oath (trouthe) or committing adultery—Dorigen delivers a lengthy classical complaint. She catalogues virtuous women from antiquity who chose suicide over dishonour and loss of chastity.
Stage 5: The Chain Reaction of Gentillesse
When Arveragus returns, Dorigen confesses her predicament. Wept over by both, Arveragus insists that she must keep her word, famously stating:
"Trouthe is the hyeste thyng that man may kepe."
What follows is a cascading chain of noble generosity:
1. Arveragus's sacrifice: He sends Dorigen to Aurelius to keep her oath, despite his own devastation.
2. Aurelius's release: Touched by Arveragus's supreme honor and Dorigen's grief, Aurelius refuses to commit shameful adultery and freely releases Dorigen from her vow.
3. The Clerk's forgiveness of debt: When Aurelius admits he cannot pay his 1,000-pound debt immediately, the Magician is so inspired by the squire's nobility that he forgives the entire debt.
Stage 6: The Demande d'Amour (The Franklin's Question)
The Franklin concludes his tale with a traditional courtly love question posed directly to the pilgrims: "Which was the mooste fre, as thynketh yow?" (Which of them was the most generous/noble?).
---4. Detailed Character Analysis
1. Arveragus
• Role: The noble Breton knight and devoted husband.
• Key Traits: Chivalric, deeply concerned with personal honor and reputation, committed to egalitarian marriage in private.
• Critical Depth: While he demonstrates remarkable fidelity to the concept of trouthe, modern readers and perceptive examiners note his authoritarian edge: he breaks down in tears but strictly commands Dorigen to keep her pledge, forbidding her on pain of death to tell anyone of his shame.
2. Dorigen
• Role: The faithful aristocratic wife.
• Key Traits: Emotionally intense, devoted, vulnerable, prone to philosophical questioning.
• Critical Depth: Dorigen directly questions God's cosmic purpose when viewing the dangerous rocks ("Eterne God, that thurgh thy purveiaunce..."). Her rash promise highlights the danger of careless speech, while her lengthy complaint demonstrates her classical learning and terror of social and sexual disgrace.
3. Aurelius
• Role: The lovesick squire and courtly lover.
• Key Traits: Romantic, desperate, courteous, capable of moral growth.
• Critical Depth: Aurelius begins as a stereotypical courtly lover whose passion drives him to deceit (hiring a magician). However, his conscience triumphs when he witnesses the moral nobility of Arveragus and Dorigen, proving that even a young squire can display authentic gentillesse.
4. The Magician / Clerk of Orleans
• Role: The educated scholar of natural magic and astrology.
• Key Traits: Intellectually shrewd, pragmatic, merchant-minded, yet morally magnanimous.
• Critical Depth: Initially operating on purely commercial terms (demanding a massive sum of 1,000 pounds), he completes the moral chain by proving that a professional commoner can match the nobility of knights and squires.
5. Key Themes and Quotes
Theme 1: Trouthe (Honor and Truth)
In medieval culture, keeping one's sworn word was essential to social and moral order. The entire dilemma hinges on whether an impossible, foolishly spoken promise carries binding moral authority.
• Key Quote: "Trouthe is the hyeste thyng that man may kepe." (Arveragus)
Theme 2: Gentillesse and Social Mobility
The Franklin explores whether nobility is inherited by birth or demonstrated through virtuous actions. By showing a knight, a squire, and a clerk each acting with supreme selflessness, the tale argues that anyone can possess noble virtue.
• Key Concept: Demande d’amour—The open debate at the end invites the audience to evaluate which social class displayed the greatest generosity.
Theme 3: Maistrie vs. Suffraunce in Marriage
The prologue and opening lines challenge traditional anti-feminist medieval views on marriage by advocating mutual compromise.
• Key Concept: Love cannot endure when constrained by tyranny; true love requires voluntary submission and patience.
Theme 4: Illusion vs. Reality (Magik Natureel)
The rocks do not actually vanish; they are merely concealed by optical and astrological calculation. This mirrors the psychological illusions within the tale—such as Aurelius's fantasy of courtly romance and the precarious appearance of marital perfection.
• Key Concept: Human perception is easily deceived by artifice and rhetoric.
6. Form, Language, and Structure Analysis (AO2)
To secure high marks in AO2, analyse Chaucer’s poetic craftsmanship:
1. Rhyming Heroic Couplets (Iambic Pentameter):
Chaucer writes in rhyming couplets of ten-syllable lines. This rhythmic regularity gives the narrative balance and poise, reinforcing the tale's thematic pursuit of harmony and order.
2. The Rhetorical Modesty Topos:
In his Prologue, the Franklin uses a classic rhetorical trick called the "modesty topos" (claiming he is a simple man with no skill in fine words: "I sleep nevere on the Mount of Parnaso"). In reality, his tale uses sophisticated classical rhetoric, mythological allusions, and formal poetic complaints.
3. Use of the Exemplum and Apostrophe:
When Dorigen faces her crisis, Chaucer slows down the narrative speed using a formal apostrophe (an impassioned address to an abstract idea or absent power) and an extensive list of exempla (historical/mythological examples of virtuous women). This elevates her domestic distress into a high-stakes classical tragedy.
4. Structural Symmetry:
The narrative has a neat, mathematical symmetry: the problem is created in stages (Marriage pact \(\rightarrow\) Rash promise \(\rightarrow\) Illusion) and resolved in exact reverse order through three acts of generosity (Arveragus \(\rightarrow\) Aurelius \(\rightarrow\) Magician).
7. Pitfalls to Avoid in the Examination
Avoid these common mistakes flagged in examiner reports:
• Don't treat the Franklin as Chaucer's direct mouthpiece: Remember that Chaucer creates a fictional persona. The Franklin has specific social anxieties about being an untitled landowner, which fuels his idealization of high-class gentillesse.
• Don't misunderstand the "Magic": The Clerk does not practice evil witchcraft or demonic sorcery. He practices medieval astrological calculation (magik natureel) that produces an optical illusion.
• Don't accept the "Happy Ending" uncritically: Examiners reward candidates who identify underlying tensions. For example, Arveragus forces Dorigen to submit to Aurelius while threatening her with execution if she exposes his shame, showing that patriarchal authority is not entirely absent.
• Avoid "Context Dumping": Never write general paragraphs about the Black Death or Chaucer's life unless directly linked to the themes of social class, marriage, or chivalric ethics in the text.
8. Quick Revision Checklist & Summary
Memory Anchor: The 3 Pacts of the Tale
1. The Marital Pact: Mutual respect and no dominance between Arveragus and Dorigen.
2. The Rash Pact: Dorigen's conditional promise to Aurelius over the black rocks.
3. The Financial Pact: Aurelius's agreement to pay 1,000 pounds of silver to the Orleans Clerk.
Final Key Takeaway:
Chaucer’s The Franklin’s Prologue and Tale is a Breton lai that investigates the balance between marital equality, social hierarchy, and moral integrity. By resolving a catastrophic rash promise through a chain reaction of mutual generosity (gentillesse), the tale asks the reader whether genuine nobility is born of aristocratic blood or cultivated through virtuous actions.