Chaucer's 'Franklin's Tale' Seen in the Context of the Tales About Calumniated Women

Author / Editor
Wicher, Andrzej.

Title
Chaucer's 'Franklin's Tale' Seen in the Context of the Tales About Calumniated Women

Published
Marcin Krygier and Liliana Sikorska, eds. Naked Wordes in Englissh (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2005), pp. 160-68.

Description
Wicher tallies a number of folktale motifs in FranT and argues that they are rationalized or obscured in ways that qualify the exemplary value of the Tale. Central is the motif of the "rash promise given to a supernatural suitor," with Arveragus, Aurelius, and the clerk functioning as "avatars" of the husband figure (and paralleling the three females in WBT). Wicher comments on other folktale elements in WBT, ClT, and MLT.

Alternative Title
Naked Wordes in Englissh.

Chaucer Subjects
Franklin and His Tale.
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.
Clerk and His Tale.
Man of Law and His Tale.