The Franklin’s Tale, Line 1469: Forms of Address in Chaucer

The Franklin's Tale, Line 1469: Forms of Address in Chaucer Derek Pearsall Harvard University Here;, the exchange between Arveragus ,nd Dorigen in Th, Franklin's Tale, immediately after Dorigen has told her husband the story of her promise to Aurelius (lines 1467-74): This housbonde, with glad chiere, in freendly wyse Answerde and seyde as I shal yow devyse: "Is ther oght elles, Dorigen, but this? "Nay, nay," quod she, "God helpe me so as wys! This is to muche, and it were Goddes wille." "Ye, wyf," quod he, "lat slepen that is stille. It may be wel, paravemure, yet to day. Ye shul youre trouthe holden, by my fay!"1 Arveragus's first response to Dorigen's news, "Is ther oght elles, Dorigen, but this?" (FranT 1469) is occasionally interpreted, not only by students, to mean, "Is there nothing else but this?" or "Is that all?" as if Arveragus were implying, whether because it is his opinion or merely to cheer Dor­ igen up, that the matter was not a very serious one. Dorigen's reply is then construed to mean, "I think it's quite bad enough," suggesting a kind of annoyance that Arveragus is not taking her predicament seriously, where­ upon Arveragus can go on to express his necessarily vague hopes ofa happy outcome. Examples of this reading of line 1469 are not difficult to find. Scholars who read the line in this way are usually motivated by their desire to represent Arveragus's actions in a good light and therefore to see his ques­ tion as a way ofreassuring Dorigen, even with a touch ofplayfulness. R. E. 1 All citations ofChaucer's works are taken from Larry D. Benson, gen. ed., TheRiverside Chaucer, 3d ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987), p. 187. 69 STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER .Kaske thinks Arveragus "an extraordinarily wise and idealistic man" whose decision is a much-needed lesson in prudence for Dorigen; he has to pre­ tend to be upset, though he really knows what Aurelius will do. "When he is first informed of her predicament, his response is strangely serene and reassuring: 'Is ther oght elles, Dorigen, but this? "'2 Mary Carruthers views Arveragus's decision as an act of moral courage. His response is friendly: "She expects outrage at her unbearable behavior, and he asks only if this is all."3 Jill Mann is more subtle: The interesting thing about this question is that it could be read as an invitation to further confessions-"have you anything else to tell me?"-and if Dorigen had a guilty conscience, she would surely project this interpretation on to it. It is a testimony to the purity of her motives, and to her rock-like sense of Ar­ veragus's generosity, that her answer makes clear that she unhesitatingly inter­ prets it in the sense that Arveragus surely intends it-"is the matter no more serious than that?"4 Other critics interpret the line in slightly different ways for different rea­ sons. Alan Gaylord sees a threatening implication in Arveragus's question: "When Arveragus asks, with ominously 'glad chiere' and 'in freendly wyse,' ifthere was anything else, Dorigen hastens to assure him that things have gone no farther."5 Robert Burlin dismisses Arveragus's question as mere propriety and good form, and revealing of the superficiality of his "gentillesse": this is his trivializing response to Dorigen's "shattering news."6 A different view, which I myself prefer, would consider that in the con­ text Arveragus would think of the matter as a serious one, too serious for him to pretend to Dorigen that it was not. The interpretation of "Is ther oght elles?" would then be "Is there anything else?" the use ofoght (and not noght, which seems to be the reading unconsciously substituted by the 2 R. E. Kaske, "Chaucer's Marriage Group," in Jerome Mitchell and William Provost, eds., Chaucer the Love Poet (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1973), p. 63. 3 MaryJ. Carruthers, "The Gentilesse ofChaucer's Franklin," Criticism 23 (1981): 283300 . 4 Jill Mann, Geoffrey Chaucer, Feminist Readings (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press International, 1991), p. 117. 5 Alan T. Gaylord, "The Promises in The...