Moral Obligations, Virtue Ethics, and Gentil Character in Chaucer’s Franklin’s Tale

The Franklin’s Tale provides an answer to the ethical question par excellence: how ought one to live in order to secure happiness? It will be shown how Chaucer carefully chooses and constructs a fitting teller, for the Franklin’s most distinctive characteristic, liberality or generosity, is essential to the solution of the ethical problem presented in his story. Moreover, the tale itself implicitly questions the coherence and efficacy of law-based morality, specifically that of deontological obligations. As an alternative, the Franklin recommends virtue ethics, that is, living in accordance with the value system of gentillesse in order to develop a gentil character, which secures such happiness as is possible in an imperfect world.