“The Parson’s Tale”: Chaucer’s Defense of Christian Marriage
by Jared Austin
During the month of September 2014, the Helwys Society Forum is exploring literary figures and themes in the Great Tradition. In subsequent articles, we’ll consider George MacDonald, T.S. Eliot, J.R.R. Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis. But in this article, we’re considering Geoffrey Chaucer’s defense of Christian marriage.
Christian marriage is under attack in America. As American culture becomes increasingly secular, what seem to be new definitions of marriage have emerged, and its general importance devolves. Those holding to a Scriptural view of marriage find themselves on the defense against feminism and gay rights lobbies. Alas, this debate is not as new as some might think.
In fact, differences over what comprises marriage were even common in Geoffrey Chaucer’s day (1343-1400). Thus we’re not surprised to find these questions featured greatly in The Canterbury Tales. Considered one of English literature’s finest achievements, this work describes pilgrims from various social classes traveling to Saint Thomas Beckett’s shrine in Canterbury. To pass the time, each pilgrim tells a tale, thus showing his/her worldview.
Included in these tales is a collection of four tales dubbed the “Marriage Group,” because each offers a different perspective on marriage. Scholars debate over which tale represents Chaucer’s personal view of marriage. Some even posit that Chaucer undermines traditional marriage by allegedly exalting figures from these tales. But as I will show in this article, he does nothing of the sort. Instead, in The Canterbury Tale’s conclusion, Chaucer uses “The Parson’s Tale” to respond to the worldviews represented in the Marriage Group and reinforce a Christian view of marriage.
The pilgrims hear this tale once they reach their destination, but before disbanding. Traditionally, “The Parson’s Tale” has been understood to be Chaucer’s deliberate ending to The Canterbury Tales. In it, Chaucer uses an exemplary Parson (or Pastor) to address the other pilgrims and urge them to repentance. The Parson knows the other pilgrims’ views on marriage are flawed and seeks to correct them. Likewise today, pastors mustn’t let their flock err without offering correction.
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale”
The Wife of Bath begins the first of the four tales that comprise the Marriage Group. The Wife is arguably the most developed character in The Canterbury Tales. She exhibits great wit and intelligence. She knows Scripture, although she purposefully twists verses to fit her agenda. The Wife has been married five times and rightfully compares herself to the Samaritan woman (Jn. 4). Yet she feels no guilt for her multiple marriages and never speaks ill of it.[1] She flippantly claims that God wants men and women to multiply (cf. Gen. 1:22).
But in his tale, the Parson reminds the Wife that God ordained marriage in Eden as the union between one man and one woman.[2] He explains that multiple marriages harm a woman’s well-being, because man’s love for her is lessened when shared among so many. Only one man is capable of loving her as she deserves.[3]
The Wife is a severely flawed character whose marital philosophies cannot be taken seriously. She is not a figure to exalt, as do many feminist critics. Her tale asserts that all women want to be sovereign over their husbands, which contradicts the Biblical teaching on marriage.
The Parson responds to the Wife’s assertions with Scripture: “Wives, be submissive to your own husbands” (1 Pet. 3:15). He explains that man is the true head of the woman. This model, he states, produces a successful marriage. Today, too, pastors should emulate the Parson and carefully explain to their congregations why husbands should be the head of the home in order for marriage to be successful.
“The Clerk’s Tale”
Perturbed by the Wife’s assertions that women should have marital sovereignty, the Clerk counters with a tale of a man who exercises complete control over his wife. In this tale, the domineering husband, Walter, subjects his wife, Griselda, to a series of tests to prove her love. Griselda overcomes much sorrow and remains faithful throughout the excruciating trials. Griselda is a model wife who should be exalted for her endurance; she also serves as a Christ figure. For Chaucer’s Parson though, Walter is the personification of a husband who does not love his wife through his actions.
The Parson responds to the Clerk by stressing Paul’s command in Ephesians 5 for husbands to love their wives. Greater responsibility is placed on the man in the marriage contract. He must love his wife and treat her with the respect she deserves. Walter is guilty of not loving his wife as his own body. Walter never would have undergone such trials himself, so how can he expect Griselda to do so? He is unwilling to sacrifice for her. Instead, Griselda makes all the sacrifices for Walter.
Paul teaches that men should love their wives as Christ sacrificially loves the Church. As Griselda is a Christ figure, Walter is also guilty of not properly loving Christ. The Parson shows the Clerk the error of his philosophy on a male-domineering marriage. In like manner, pastors today must stress the importance to husbands of sacrificial love, so that marriage can flourish.
“The Merchant’s Tale”
This tale is also a direct response to the Wife’s insistence on women’s sovereignty. The Merchant tells about a clueless husband who is cuckolded by an unfaithful wife. Thus this tale illustrates what happens to a marriage when a woman acts autonomously. It is also a strong picture of the Fall as allusions to Adam and Eve abound. For the Parson, the tale’s biggest problem concerns a protagonist who marries for the wrong reasons.
In this tale, a lecherous older man, January, marries a much younger woman, May. He is a wicked individual and ignorant of the proper reasons for marriage, only seeing it as a way to gain property and an heir. Since January loves his wife for the wrong reasons, he drives her to find love in another man’s arms, Damian.
In time, January is stricken blind by fickle Fortune, and May mocks January’s blindness by using him to further her illicit affair with Damian. May deceives January by having him lift her into a tree where Damian is hiding. While they are engaged in fornication in the tree, January is granted his eyesight once again, enabling him to see how his wife has cuckolded him.
In his sermon, the Parson is quick to show that January married for the wrong reasons. In medieval times, men were expected to accomplish certain duties at particular ages in their lives. Younger men were supposed to marry and procreate; older men’s doing so was unacceptable. Older men should be focused on preparing for the afterlife and facing God’s judgment.[4] The marriage between January and May would have been reprehensible to most medieval audiences. The Parson continues by pointing out importance of producing children.[5] If January had loved his wife as the Bible teaches, she might not have tried to find love elsewhere.
The frequency of adultery in today’s church suggests that many husbands do not love their wives properly. Pastors must protect their flock by warning men about the consequences of selfishness.
“The Franklin’s Tale”
Finally, the Parson addresses “The Franklin’s Tale.” In this tale, a knight, Arviragus, marries a young girl, Dorigen. At the beginning of their marriage, they agree to have an egalitarian marriage where both parties share sovereignty. They also agree to allow Arviragus to maintain the appearance of sovereignty in public, but not in the domestic sphere. While Arviragus goes away to battle, this marriage relationship is tested by outside forces, but the couple remains happily married at the tale’s conclusion.
Although “The Franklin’s Tale’s” depiction of marriage is the most affable of the “Marriage Group,” the Parson cannot approve of a total egalitarian marriage. He continues to remind his listeners that the man is the wife’s head because Christ is the Church’s. He also reminds them that neither spouse owns their bodies. Husbands and wives give their bodies to one another wholly.
The Parson presents a clear explanation of how a true Christian marriage should operate: a man loves his wife as Christ loves the Church; the wife responds to such love by submitting to her husband. Such a message should be echoed in today’s churches as women are assailed by feminist philosophies and even false views of masculinity that undermine man’s proper headship in marriage.
Conclusion
Chaucer’s exemplary Parson accomplishes his role of warning his fellow pilgrims of their need for penitence. When the pilgrimage concludes, the Parson serves as Chaucer’s voice of admonition. In our own lives, families, and ministries, we can learn much from Chaucer, whose views are spoken by the Parson.
In the face of even greater opposition to Biblical marriage in today’s culture, pastors must stand firm. They mustn’t fail to protect their flocks from the secular philosophies that are destructive to God’s institution of marriage.
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About the Author: Jared Austin has recently married his beautiful bride, Sunny. He is an editor with a Christian publishing house associated with the National Baptist Congress. He is a 2008 graduate of Welch College, as well as a 2010 graduate of Middle Tennessee State University with a M.A. in English. He resides in LaVergne, Tennessee. He enjoys film, football, and literature.
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For more information on Chaucer and his important place in literary and Christian history, see the following:
Alighieri, Dante. Convivio. Cited in S.H. Rigby, “Society and Politics.” In Chaucer: An Oxford Guide, edited by Steve Ellis, 26-50. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005.
Bestul, Thomas. “Chaucer’s Parson’s Tale and the Late-Medieval Tradition of Religious Meditation.” Speculum 64, no. 3 (July 1989):600-19. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/pss/2854185 (accessed March 11, 2010).
Brown, Carole Koepke. “Episodic patterns and the perpetrator: The structure and meaning of Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale.” Chaucer Review 31, no. 1 (September 1996): 18-35. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 24, 2010).
Chapman, Otis Coolidge. “The Parson’s Tale: A Mediaeval Sermon.” Modern Language Notes 43, no. 4 (April 1928): 229-34. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/pss/2914436 (accessed March 3, 2010).
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Clerk’s Tale. 3rd ed. In The Riverside Chaucer, edited by Larry Benson, 137-54. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Franklin’s Tale. 3rd ed. In The Riverside Chaucer, edited by Larry Benson, 178-89. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. General Prologue. 3rd ed. In The Riverside Chaucer, edited by Larry Benson, 23-36. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Merchant’s Tale.. 3rd ed. In The Riverside Chaucer, edited by Larry Benson, 154-68. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.
Chaucer. Geoffrey. The Parson’s Tale. 3rd ed. In The Riverside Chaucer, edited by Larry Benson, 287-328. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.
Chaucer. Geoffrey. The Wife of Bath’s Tale. 3rd ed. In The Riverside Chaucer, edited by Larry Benson, 105-122. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.
Dinshaw, Carolyn. Chaucer’s Sexual Politics. Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1989.
Ginsberg, Walter. “Preaching and Avarice in the Pardoner’s Tale.” In Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Pardoner’s Tale, edited by Harold Bloom, 63-77. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.
Hansen, Elaine Tuttle. “The Wife of Bath and the Mark of Adam.” Women’s Studies 15, no. 4 (December 1988): 399-416. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 24, 2010).
Hume, Cathy.“‘The Name of Soveraynetee’: The Private and Public Faces of Marriage in The Franklin’s Tale,” Studies in Philology 105, no. 3 (Summer 2008): 290. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 24, 2010).
Jones, Mark. “Lay Women and Sarum Ritual: A Nuptial Prayer from Morgan MS M. 861.” Chaucer Review 37, no. 3 (January 2003): 265-274. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 24, 2010).
Keiser, George R. “Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale, E 2412-16.” Studies in Short Fiction 15, no. 2 (Spring 1978): 191-92. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 24, 2010).
Kittredge, George. “Chaucer’s Discussion of Marriage.” In Chaucer Criticism, Volume 1: The Canterbury Tales, edited by Richard Schoeck and Jerome Taylor, 130-59. Notre Dame: Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 1960.
Longsworth, Robert. “The Wife of Bath and the Samaritan Woman.” Chaucer Review 34, no. 4 (June 2000): 373-87. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 24, 2010).
Merrix, Robert.” Sermon Structure in The Pardoner’s Tale.” In Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Pardoner’s Tale, edited by Harold Bloom, 125-138. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.
Owen, Jr. Charles. “What the Manuscripts Tell Us About the Parson’s Tale.” Medium Aevum 63, no 2 (1994):239-250. http://find.galegroup.com (accessed March 2, 2010).
Pearcy, Roy J. “Épreuves d’amour and Chaucer’s Franklin’s Tale.” Chaucer Review 44, no. 2 (October 2009): 159-185. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 24, 2010).
Phillips, Helen. An Introduction to the Canterbury Tales. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.
Robertson, D.W. “Chaucer and the Christian Tradition.” In Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition, edited by David Jeffrey, 3-32. Ottawa: Univ. of Ottawa Press, 1984.
Taylor, Mark N. “Servant and Lord / Lady and Wife: The Franklin’s Tale and Traditions of Courtly and Conjugal Love.” Chaucer Review 32, no. 1 (September 1997): 64-81. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 24, 2010).
Wood, Chauncey.” Artistic Intention and Chaucer’s Uses of Scriptural Allusion.” In Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition, edited by David Jeffrey, 35-46. Ottawa: Univ. of Ottawa Press, 1984.
Youngs, Deborah. “The Parson’s Tale: A Newly Discovered Fragment.” The Chaucer Review 34, no. 2 (1999): 207-216. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/pss/25096087 (accessed March 3, 2010).
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[1] Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,”lines 32-34, pg. 105.
[2] Chaucer, “The Parson’s Tale,”321.
[3] Ibid., 321.
[4] Helen Phillips, An Introduction to the Canterbury Tales (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000),
[5] Ibid., 322.
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