The Physician’s Tale

by Geoffrey Chaucer

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 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 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.

Genres: Poetry, British Literature, Fiction, Classics

202 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1987

About the author

Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1343 - 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific A Treatise on the Astrolabe for his 10-year-old son, Lewis. He maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament.
Among Chaucer's many other works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage" (i.e., the first one capable of finding poetic matter in English). Almost two thousand English words are first attested to in Chaucerian manuscripts. As scholar Bruce Holsinger has argued, charting Chaucer's life and work comes with many challenges related to the "difficult disjunction between the written record of his public and private life and the literary corpus he left behind". His recorded works and his life show many personas that are "ironic, mysterious, elusive [or] cagey" in nature, ever-changing with new discoveries.

Reviews

[Vaishali · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the weaker of the Canterbury Tales. Though it concerned an honor killing (an accepted practice in medieval Europe), the physician says nothing about himself or his own life. Still more exciting than the Knight's Tale, however.

[Jacky Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The shortest of the Canterbury tales (?), and often viewed as one of the most unattractive and problematic: it is too structurally messy and incoherent, e.g. by lacking relation to the Physician's portrait in the General Prologue, e.g. by having a random digression on advice for governesses and even parents. I certainly found it much less compelling than the Pardoner's Tale which I read years back, but having read Livy's Ab Urbe Condita and the rape of Virginia, the way Chaucer's retelling turns the political drama domestic is not without interest. Lianna Farber thinks that we have here a demonstration of a failed governing figure in the house (on top of the obviously failed public governor, Appius)--Virginius ultimately causes Virginia to choose to commit suicide--a paradigm set up precisely through the governess digression. Others such as David Kline read the tale in the context of late 14th century childhood. Still others are interested in issues of genre, suggesting that this resembles almost a hagiography? Personally, the tale does feel a bit off-kilter compared to the other tales: no class or religious satire, no explosive wild style, no reflection on the nature of poetry and storytelling, etc. So not sure what to make of it yet, but I am looking forward to slowly getting through the rest of the Canterbury Tales.

[mia :•) · Rating 5 out of 5]

so pointless i love it

[Angelina 🫶 · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Yit me my deeth, er that I have a shame”/Give me my death, before I have dishonor

Women always catching the nastiest strays in Medieval Lit 😭

[Duffy Pratt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easily the worst of these tales I've read so far. It's not engaging, extremely short, yet it somehow manages to be longwinded in such a short space. And on top of that, it's repulsive. There's a virtuous maid. We go on and on about how perfect she is. A judge gets the hots for her and has her father falsely accused and convicted of kidnapping and keeping her, all so he can take her and have his way with her. Rather than sacrifice her virtue, she willingly lets her father kill her. Delivering the head to the judge, the judge immediately sentences the father to death by hanging, but the crowd revolts against the judge and imprisons him, where he commits suicide.


It's not often that the events in a story disgust me, but this one does it. I guess there was supposed to be a moral lesson in all of this, but whatever it is, its not worth it.

[TopBob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lecherous knaves are weaponizing the courts against Sir Virginius, I hope he doesn't do anything drastic.



But seriously-- not much commentary, nor place in the Tales' structure, not even prologue -- come on Chaucer!

Still, not boring, with some potential political implications.

[Andy Dainty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best, nor the worst.

[sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

no but this was just sad... all the women in chaucer's tales deserve better

[Emily L. S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chaucer just loves women and keeping them alive 💞💞

[Asher Allen]

Skippable.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very beautiful and tragic story, my favorite of The Canterbury Tales that I have read so far. For such a short story, it's incredibly powerful. You can feel Virginius's pain and understand the difficult decision he has to make. The concept that a father may love his child enough to kill her isn't exactly intuitive.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor Virginia!!

[sch · Rating 4 out of 5]

May 2017. Rereading the General Prologue and a few tales to teach. May 2018. Teaching GP again.