Conclusion: The Trials of Exemplary Legal Fiction

Summary

A common critical assumption holds that the process of story-telling brings the poet into a warmer and more sympathetic relationship with his subject matter, that it frees the poet from cold generalities and leads to an appreciation for contingency, for the victim, for alternative points of view. In many ways this describes the judicial exemplum, with its attention for the particularities of the legal case. Yet what we have also seen is that Gower's interest in exemplary punishment often has the opposite effect. The need for closure and the penological and pedagogical importance of “setting an example” are well illustrated by Egiona's suicide. The importance of keeping the law despite the costs is illustrated by the example of Carmidotirus. This is perhaps the cost of Gower's keen interest in the rigor iuris and in poetic justice, that the individual must be sacrificed (rather than rehabilitated or excused) for the greater good (the law, the lesson). Moreover, this tendency is widespread enough that to attribute it to something like Genius's shortsightedness will not do. Instead, while Gower certainly shows much warmth and sympathy, he is also willing to uphold abstract ideals over personal concerns, law over circumstance, and example over pity.