What it Really Means to be Noble in the Canterbury Tales

The franklins tale raises issues about what it really means to be

noble Consider how this tale forms an examination of the values

that held medieval society together and how this is subtly questioned

by Chaucer.

INTRODUCTION

Chaucer raised many questions through the Canterbury Tales dealing

with events of the time including marriage, a woman’s place in the

world and changing attitudes. In the Franklins tale the most

prominent issue he raises is to deal with what it means to be noble.

Chaucer is questioning the social class system throughout England in

Medieval society and raises many questions for the reader about it.

To be a noble in Chaucer’s time you had to be born into nobility. To

be a noble meant you were able to bear arms and were responsible for

the protection of the whole community. They generally lived in

castle, owned land and were supported in peace and war by inferiors.

However, a knight might own a scrubby patch of land and have a small

house in the country, but if he could trace his family back to

nobility he was still declared a ‘noble’. Gentillesse was a code of

behavior associated with the noble class. This included a number of

qualities. Generosity, chivalrous or gentlemanly deeds, bravery,

social graces, delicacy of feelings, integrity and many others. A man

could appear to be genteel by wearing expensive clothes and possessed

the qualities of the noble class. However, he would never be

officially genteel or noble if he was not born into it. A man who was

stupid, lazy, and poor and chose not to fight would still have been

considered genteel and noble and could wear a coat of arms just from

his heriditory.

The Franklin was a land owner who could not trace his descent from

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collectively make gentillesse it can become a force for evil rather

than good. All the characters hold truth to the highest degree and as

we can see it turns out to be a disaster. It is Avergus who tells

Doregin to hold her trouth and thus allows all the characters to

perform truly gentille acts, as idea of gentillesse as it has been

taken out of context many times throughout the play.

CONCLUSION

Chaucer’s message, which echoes throughout the tale, is to alert his

audience to the fact that “gentillesse” is not so much a right of

birth and breeding, but a fundamental human trait which can be found

in any man regardless of his lineage. It is not a concept that is

intended to be limited to the high born. The message is that all

ranks of society are capable of noble actions and that such virtue can

be found in the streets as well as the castles.