Geoffrey Chaucer was born in medieval times dating 1343 in London, England. He is known by many as the father of English Literature writing many famous poems in Middle English dictation. I had the opportunity to see his small, ancient grave in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. He was the first to be buried there in that corner and is honored even to this day. He is most famous for "The Canterbury Tales", "Parliament of Fowls", "House of Fame",and many other signature poems and short stories within his works. He makes strong points in his writing about humanity and sin relating to religion in his time.
Merciless Beauty, by Geoffrey Chaucer (translated into modern English)
Your eyes two whole slay me suddenly;
I may the beauty of them not sustain
So wounds it, throughout my heart keen.
Unless your word will heal, all hastily,
My heart’s wound while it is yet green,
Your eyes two whole slay me suddenly;
I may the beauty of them not sustain.
By my truth, I tell you faithfully
That you are of my life and death the queen,
For at my death the truth shall be seen:
Your eyes two whole slay me suddenly;
I may the beauty of them not sustain,
So wounds it throughout my heart keen.
So has your beauty from your heart chased
Pity, that it avails not to complain,
For Pride holds your mercy by a chain.
Though guiltless, my death you have purchased.
I tell you truly, needing not to feign,
So has your beauty from your heart chased
Pity, that it avails not to complain.
Alas, that Nature has in you placed
Such great beauty that no man may attain
To mercy though he die from the pain,
So has your beauty from your heart chased
Pity, that it avails not to complain,
For Pride holds your mercy by a chain.
Since I’m from Love escaped yet so fat,
I never plan to be in his prison lean;
Since I am free, I count it not a bean.
He may answer and say this and that;
I care not: I’ll speak just as I mean.
Since I’m from Love escaped yet so fat,
I never plan to be in his prison lean.
Love strikes my name from his slate flat,
And he is struck out of my books clean
For evermore; my sole course it has been.
Since I’m from Love escaped yet so fat,
I never plan to be in his prison lean;
Since I am free, I count it not a bean.
A Woman is Man's Downfall, by Melanie Walker
“Your yen two wol slee me sodenly;
I may the beautee of hem not sustene,
So woundeth hit throughout my herte kene” (Merciles Beaute, Chaucer).
Understanding Geoffrey Chaucer is an arduous expedition but once readers get to the fruit of Chaucer’s language, the taste is sweet and his message is clear. Chaucer, the father of Middle English has written many works of literature that give readers and scholars, inquirers and thinkers, material to feast on and reflect about. Author of famous “The Canterbury Tales” and many other poems, Chaucer shows readers many different themes in his workmanship that allow writers to compare ideas and definitions between his clever drafts. A common theme found with Chaucer is about women and the essence of their beauty. Between “The Shipman’s Tale” in the Canterbury Tales and his triple roundel poem “Merciles Beaute”, Chaucer explores the concept of a woman’s beauty leading a man to his downfall and what that downfall is.
The Shipman’s Tale
“The Shipman’s Tale” is about a merchant man and his beautiful wife who are hospitable to all people that come to stay and commune with them. The husband’s childhood friend Brother John is a monk from a nearby town who has come to stay a night after a long journey. During Brother John’s early arise and uniform walk in the gardens, the beauteous wife goes to speak to him and manifests a secret in him that she does not find her husband suitable in any emotional and physical aspect of marriage. She also confides in Brother John about her one hundred frank debt she owes and asks for funds. Entranced by her beauty, Brother John agrees with a small favor to him in bed where she hastily agrees to use her body for his money. Swearing his secrecy and sealing their agreement with scandal in the gardens, they depart and carry out their deal later on while the husband is away on business matters. During the departure, the monk and wife’s scandal executes a few extra times until the wife has the necessary funds she needs. The husband returns and learns of the wife’s secret exchange in funds with Brother John and becomes angry with her and she proposes that she will, again, use her body to smooth over her husband’s anger and redeem herself. The tale concludes quoting, “The merchant saw none other remedy; and for to chide, it where but a folly, Since that the thing might not amended be” (7), and the husband agrees ending the tale. This tale’s plot exemplifies Chaucer’s idea about a woman leading a man to his downfall. Brother John is a leading example of this: he is a monk who supposedly leads a life of virtue, but his chastity is bequeathed when he engages in secrecy and sin with the mesmerizing attractiveness of the merchant’s wife. The husband is a minor example of this, as he loses his pride and justifiable anger to his wife’s beautiful charm as she settles all her debts with her body. Perhaps Chaucer uses his tale to admonish his male readers to not fall under the spells of beautiful women that will use their feminine nature for wickedness or selfish gain.
Merciles Beaute
“Merciles Beaute” is another example that speaks of the downfall of men to beauty. The poem’s narrator is a person that addresses a lady whose eyes “slay” him hastily and whose beauty causes pride that refuses any type of mercy on him. In the three-roundel timeline of the poem, the narrator begins by telling the lady about her incomprehensive and “unsustainable” beauty that wounds his heart so keen and leaves no physical marks. He professes to her the oxymoron of being his life and death as well as his queen. In the second round, he tells her that her beauty chases any pity on him from her, and that her pride does not leave room in her heart for any mercy on him. The third round speaks of his freedom from her, as well as his downfall. It reads:
“Sin I fro Love escaped am so fat, I never thenk to ben in his prison lene; Sin I am free, I counte him not a bene” (Roundel III, line 1-3).
His escape from her grasp leaves a sort of redemption for the narrator, but his downfall is that he vows never to enter into such a prison as love again. This can be viewed as his downfall because this lady tainted love for him to where he will never admit himself to feel the pure and elated effects of love again. Readers conclude from the narrator about the harsh effects of beautiful women that snipe the purity and selfless gain that can be obtained from love.
In my study abroad trip to England, we came across a beautiful vista called the Stourhead Gardens. The grounds of these gardens were spacious and spectacular, holding pristine lakes, rushing waterfalls, replicas of Greek temples, and forestry pathways. In my exploration of the gardens, I came across this grotto with hidden fountains inside and which held a pronounced and masculine statue of King Triton as well as a coy nymph to his side. I kneeled down a looked at the nymph with her faded inscription at the base of this statue and found myself mesmerized by her beauty. Mythological nymphs are infamous for using their soft looks and harsh charm to entrance sailors and lead them to their watery downfall. I find this memory of the nymph’s statue in connection to Chaucer and what he tried to convey as well as warn his readers about falling under the spell of sin by beauty that intends to destruct peace or salvation. Whether from his experience or observation, Chaucer found this to be a repeatable theme in his day and it quite possibly could be a theme found in modern day as well.
I love this! Your writing is marvelous.
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