Miracles in The Man of Law's Tale

MIRACLES IN THE MAN OF LAW'S TALE William C. Johnson, Jr. And indeed it would seem very strange that Christianity should have come into the world just to receive an explanation; as if it had been somewhat bewildered about itself, and hence had entered the world to consult that wise man, the speculative philosopher, who can help by furnishing the explanation. Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript Chaucer's artistic purpose in adapting Nicholas Trivet's Life of Constance remains an open critical question. Critics have agreed unanimously that Chaucer's version of the story is superior in aesdietic terms, but the question ofwhat constitutesthese apparent qualitativeimprovementshasbeenanswered only in a very general, unsatisfactory way.1 At the risk of losing the broader perspective of a "reading" of The Man of Law's Tale as a whole, I will focus here on one aspect of Chaucer's unique redaction. Chaucer's use of Trivet's miracles reveals anodier instance of his originality and poignant tentativeness in transforming an "olde boke" into new Chaucerian art. The keynote of Chaucer's originality is his empirical oudook and his corresponding interest in human psychology and, specifically, in die problem of human knowledge. In Chaucer's hands, die didactic certainty of saint's legend is transformed into aesdietic ineffability. To evaluate a poetic adaptation is to face a singular problem. One must account for not only apparent differences of taste and insight, but also for die complex aesdietic attitude—what Lounsbury called the "personal equation "2—supporting and informing them. I have chosen die miracles for extended comment because, first of all, diey reveal crucial moments of diematic intention in both Trivet and Chaucer, if in very different ways. Furthermore , since Chaucer consistendy carries over the general framework of character and incident in Trivet's story, an evaluative comparison gives us a sharper view of what is distinct in Chaucer's version beyond die literal repetition of names and incidents.3 We can glimpse something of the "deep structure" of Chaucer's poetry. 'See Bernard I. Duffey, "The Intention and Art of The Man of Law's Tale, ELH, 14 (1947), 181-93; and Edward A. Block, "Originality, Controlling Purpose, and Craftsmanship in Chaucer 's Man of Law's Tale," PMLA, 68 (1953), 572-616. These views, still fundamentally unchallenged , indicate the direction of Chaucer's changes only in the broadest sense (e.g., the MLT is more "romantic," contains "incongruities," reveals more piety and more "humanized" characterization ). *Thomas R. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, His Life and Writings (New York, 1892), II, p. 492. 'Chaucer's major additions to Trivet concern the characterization of Custance. For an interpretive account of these, see my unpublished doctoral diss., "Chaucer's View of Knowledge: A Study of Ambiguity in The Man of Law's Tale," Univ. of Denver (1971), pp. 97-105 [DA, July (1972), p. 275-A]. 57 58RMMLA BulletinJune 1974 It will be helpful to review briefly die nature of miracles in orthodox saint's legend. A detailed description of the types and degrees of miracle is unnecessary here. We should note, however, the central function of miraculous events in die legends: to reveal die active presence of God in human affairs, and diereby to promote religious belief and behavior.4 I raise such an obvious point for two reasons. First, this is exacdy Trivet's attitude toward miracles, and second, aldiough Chaucer uses diese miracles in die MLT, he re-directs Trivet's hagiographical content toward a new center. In Chaucer, "miracle" expresses something odier tlian "didactic exemplum." The MLT presents miracles not as examples of doctrine, but as vehicles of aesdieticism. Apart from die "background" miracle of Constance's amazing endurance for years at a time on the sea, Trivet's story contains diree explicit miracles, which Chaucer (and Gower)6 carries into his tale. These miracles are 1) Hermengild's restoring sight to die blind Briton; 2) the punishment of die knight who falsely accuses Constance of murder; and 3) Constance's defeating the steward who attempts to seduce her. Trivet presents the miracle of die blind Briton as a straightforward, logically developed account of God's meaningful action in human life. Because Trivet...