7 - The final tales

Summary

In the final tales the probing of the limitations of Chaucer's own art that characterizes the tales considered in the previous chapters is developed in moral and spiritual terms. There is a precise thematic opposition between the Canon's Yeoman's tale of the desperate, failed, and finally specious project of alchemical “translation” undertaken by his mad scientists, who seek to make gold from dross, and the lucid depiction of spiritual transformation in the immediately preceding tale of the Second Nun. The implicit contrast between Cecilie's fulfillment through faith and the failure of the Canon's earthly magic is reinforced by the bitterness with which the Yeoman recalls his own close involvement in the Canon's obsession; he has given his life to a finally abortive quest, and his disillusionment suggests a deeper skepticism as to the value of such syntheses as human art can attain. The Manciple's tale, which follows, is the most extreme of Chaucer's many attempts to incorporate a philistine perspective into the larger poem. It is prefaced by a scene in which the Manciple mocks the drunken Cook, and his easy victory over one who has forfeited the dignity of speech and self-governance prepares us for a tale that seems to confirm Chaucer's early misgivings about his undertaking in the Tales: churldom triumphs over courtliness, worth and beauty are destroyed by wrath, and love is reduced to infidelity and violent jealousy.